Spectrology
by TheseStarsBurnCold
Summary: Apparently, resetting the timeline meant there being many, many differences that one would have to get use to. Seriously, Danny should have known going in that he'd have to deal with more crap than usual. (I do not own Danny Phantom or anything Marvel related, obviously)
1. Prologue

Amity Park, Illinois

Amity General Hospital

12:06 A.M.

It had started around the New Year. Before then, if one were to think a bit more into the situation that he found himself in. Tucker and his family were taking a vacation for the winter holidays. They were headed out of the country, though Tucker hadn't mentioned where. Mere hours after their plane took off, word had spread that the plane had gone missing. Some suspected it had crashed, others, specifically those in Amity Park, speculated that maybe a ghost portal was involved. Either way, after weeks of nothing turning up in the resulting investigation, the case was closed and everyone aboard the flight was presumed dead.

Valerie had been distraught over it all. Danny knew that she and Tucker had only recently started dating and to find out that something like this happened? He made an effort to check up on her when he could, but as time went on those visits became more sporadic until he hardly saw her in passing outside of school.

Of course Danny had been one of those to think that ghosts could be involved. He had gone into the Zone to ask his mentor, Clockwork, about it. The only straight answer that the ghost of time could give was that no, his friend's disappearance had nothing to do with ghosts. If it had been, Clockwork reassured, he would have told Danny what had happened, or lead him to find the missing people who could have been alive. He could still be alive, Danny had thought dozens of times. He could still be out there somewhere.

His thoughts had taken a left turn sometime after his parents died. They had either been too careless with their experiments and had died from ectoplasm burns, or had forgotten about the filter to the portal but either way, the house had caught fire after the explosion rocked the basement. The surrounding buildings also caught fire though thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Well, no one but Danny's parents who hadn't survived.

He could now count the number of people that cared about him easily on one hand.

Sam had then been sent away by her parents to a boarding school. Danny thought it might have been in Japan but he hadn't been paying too much attention to that little detail. He'd texted her during the entire flight just to make sure she'd be okay. She was, but now that she was half a world away, it was ten times harder to talk to each other and keep up a relationship. While they managed it to Sam's parents ire, Danny knew he wasn't in a good shape.

Jazz was next, having sustained injuries while Danny was fighting off Skulker and some other animal ghosts. She had been on the sidelines in case he needed an extra thermos or first aid after the battle. Danny couldn't capture the remaining ghosts fast enough once he knew.

The past year had been a nightmare for Danny, to say the least.

"Little brother?" Danny's head snapped up to stare at his sister. She had been in the hospital for a few days now, and though the injuries she had were healing fine, the medication she was on lowered her immune system some. Neither of them had thought she'd get sick though, as everyone, including Dani and himself, took every precaution they could.

It hadn't been enough, and now it was a toss up whether or not she'd make it.

"Yeah?" He asked, his voice kept low because of the sleeping half-ghost girl in the chair next to him.

"I remember you said something about a plan that you were working on. With Clockwork. To go back in time or something, right?" Danny shook his head.

"Not exactly, but it does involve messing with time."

"Are you going to do it now?"

"Yeah. Now's a good time as any. Is it alright if I called him here?" Jazz chuckled.

"Sure thing, little brother."

Clockwork appeared not even a minute later in his adult appearance, stopping time for all but the two siblings, who he temporarily gave time medallions to. He looked tired, worn down, and his eyes were burning with some kind of inner light that made Danny look away. He was thankful that Dani would be asleep through this.

"Clockwork?" Jazz asked as the time ghost turned his attention to her, "What's the plan that you and Danny came up with and can I be in it?"

"The plan is to, as you humans might say, hit the reset button on time. It wouldn't just affect this timeline, but all connected alternate ones, and the way that time itself works within the new timeline may change. In order to do this, with both of you, would be that one of you could not speak of the events of the past 18 months or otherwise communicate it to anyone. The other would not remember the same amount of time at all. There will be circumstances that can be met for you to remember an or speak about a specific event, but they will not come up until at least a full year has passed."

"I want to be the one to remember." Jazz volunteered as soon as he was done speaking, her voice stronger than it had been for the past few days.

"What? Jazz, no." She turned to glare at her brother who, upon seeing it, shut up immediately.

"Jazz, yes. I know you want to protect me Danny but please. Just let me do this for you. Please." Well crap. He could refuse her, could he? Nope, not with that face he couldn't.

"Fine." He relented, not feeling happy about the decision, knowing it was a rushed one that could have unforeseen consequences but also knowing he'd have to live with it.

"Are you ready? Daniel? Jasmine?"

Was he ready? There was no going back after this. Dani, he was assured, would still exist somehow, somewhen, which helped him in going through with the plan up to this point but was he really ready for whatever he'd have to face?

Danny shared a look with his sister before both faced the ghost of time and nodded their heads.

"Very well then." Clockwork took the medallions, resumed time, and then did something so his staff extended about a foot. A blade formed from the end with the clock and the whole thing morphed into an elegant, but deadly looking scythe. Pushing ectoplasm into it and calling up his power over time, Clockwork spun the weapon faster than Danny's eyes could catch before driving it into the floor.

" **R҉̡̨Ȩ̵́͞Ş͢E̷͟͞T̴̶̀͢**."

And then all Danny saw was white.


	2. Chapter 1

Amity Park, Illinois

Fenton Household

5:00 A.M.

When Danny woke up that morning, it was to the darkness of his room. There was warmth to. The warmth of two people on either side of him. It took him a moment to remind himself that panicking without knowing what was going on wouldn't help him or his situation. With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes again and allowed himself to think.

Memories were flickering through his mind like fire, new ones surfacing against ones that he already knew. There was a memory when he was five and hd hurt his knee doing something. In one version of the memory, Jazz had gotten their mom who took care of it quickly enough. In the other, Jazz had taken care of it herself with no explanation as to why their mom wasn't there.

More memories of his early childhood gained a second, different version to match it. Yet there were a few that stood out that Danny was certain hadn't happened. Like when he was six and learning how to make simple things like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from his sister. It was in case he was hungry and their parents were busy or working and Jazz was working or somewhere else.

Or the time when he was seven and could already do a lot of other things like wash his clothes and dry them, knowing which settings to put the machines to and what to put in it. Folding his clothes, having a shower instead of a bath. Taking care of himself in general because Jazz wouldn't always, couldn't always be there to help him because she was only nine she had other things to focus on.

Danny remembered enough of Clockwork's lessons about time and history to know that alternate timeline memories usually wouldn't happen to him or anyone else unless that timeline died, like Dan's, or unless time was Reset. He didn't think that another Dead End timeline could happen because even when he did time travel now it was usually because Clockwork said that something had to be fixed in the past. Those were usually little things that he had to make sure happened, but other, larger things sometimes popped up. When it wasn't that, it was for learning purposes only and he was careful so as to not mess things up.

That only left the reset option which-

Okay. Ow. Danny would have rubbed his head at the headache that echoed through his skull if he could move his arms. Having each of them trapped by a sleeping friend who were both curled up close on either side of him, now that he noticed, caused a bit more confusion.

Okay so he wasn't allowed to think about a time reset. He could deal with that. Maybe he could think around it? Surely whatever caused it to happen couldn't have been too bad-

Nope. The headache persisted. Well, that certainly wasn't an indicator of bad news that he'd probably never remember.

The memories that were being poured into his head, now that he could associate them properly with this new timeline, were shifting to when he was eight and older, when he met his friends.

Just in time for said friends to wake up.

"G'morning." Tucker mumbled. The greeting was echoed by Sam who fought back a yawn.

"Morning." Danny responded, finding it a bit irritating that he couldn't remember what day it was or what was going on. Was this the time they normally got up for school? Resets changed things. How much had changed? Was the falling asleep in a pile normal whenever they had sleepovers?

He really needed to start remembering things faster. This slow trickle might've saved himself a huge migraine or headache, which was dying down now that he refused to think about why it must've happened, but it didn't help him with literally everything else.

"C'mon! We have to get up now, lazy bones." Danny didn't want to though. His mind and what he had gotten used to with his half-ghost body was screaming at him that something was wrong. His felt too heavy, for one. If he dared to get up and walk right now he no doubt would be causing a lot of noise and stumbling about because he was human. He was human and not half human.

His new memories clashed with the old ones that may or may not have any impact in what was going to happen from here on out. Danny made a little noise of protest as he wasn't allowed to lay down and think any longer as Sm was pulling at his arms to get him to stand.

"C'mon. You've got a field trip today, lucky."

"And Jazz is making breakfast this time." Tucker added in his own thoughts.

Jazz made breakfast? Well gee, that seemed to be yet another conflict. According to the new, valid memories that were still coming, holy goodness when would they just pick up the pace already? Jazz cooked meals most days while Danny handled the weekends. He'd learned to actually cook when he had been ten because he'd asked his sister who then taught him. He had wanted to do something more for her because she was always doing everything since mom and dad were working on something nearly all the time.

The hell?

He knew things would be different, but this?!

"Danny? You okay?" Huh. He'd spaced out. Apparently in that time they'd all gotten dressed, including himself somehow. Must've been on autopilot. Thank you muscle memory. As he cleared his head of confusion best saved for later, Danny mumbled something about how Jazz's cooking smelled good. There were scrambled eggs and sausage and biscuits with gravy. There was also pancakes, whole wheat he had to guess because Sam dug into those.

He shoved most memories away as soon as they appeared now, focusing on bits of information about his friends. Sam was vegetarian, not vegan. Seeing as Danny was now the designated cook in their little friendship circle aside from Jazz, he'd have to search those memories more for what she would and would not eat. Tucker was able to eat some things besides meat, the occasional fruit more so than any vegetable, but he was allergic to peanuts. Danny would have to remember that.

A few he was more careful with in diving into while they ate and everyone was too busy shoving food into their mouths to have an actual conversation. For the most part though he took this time to organize his memories as best he could between timelines. The ones he had that might still be useful in someway, even if only in a "do not do this" and "do that please make sure this happens" way, were "pre-alpha timeline" memories while the ones from this timeline would be "alpha timeline". His love for video games may or may not have had an influence on this decision.

Sam had said something about a field trip earlier. A field trip to where? She hadn't said it in a way that included her and Tucker though so maybe it was class where he didn't have at least one of them with him?

"Danny. C'mon! What is with you this morning? If we don't finish now and get ready we're going to be late." Sam had taken it upon herself it seemed to get Danny to finish his food and make sure he had everything for school. Jazz would be walking with them today. No, she always did that what was he thinking?

This memory thing was going to get annoying, wasn't it?

At least he was getting memories from when he was twelve now, and that it wouldn't last much longer. Maybe once they got to school it would be done and he'd be able to actually go over them on the bus.

"Jazz, you've been quiet this morning to. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Tucker. I'm fine. Just make sure Danny doesn't walk into anything."

"Can do."

Time passed and Danny was starting to think that he was getting towards the end of the knowledge and memory dump when an interesting one lazily brought itself into focus.

What on God's green earth…?"

He and Sam were boyfriend and girlfriend already? For two months now?

Danny didn't really know what to think of it. He was already trying not to panic too much over the "not half-ghost now, is this before the accident, am I going to have to purposefully turn on the portal with me inside it this time" situation that he had been deliberately not thinking about. Now there was this. Which, yeah, was something good but then when the accident happened later it would no doubt hurt her all the more. He didn't want to see either of them hurting like they did the first time.

If Tucker and Sam were around to see it, that is.

* * *

Casper High

7:10 A.M.

Jazz was still coming to terms with her own situation by the time they reached the school and went their separate ways to class. So far she had come to similar conclusions as her brother had where their parents were concerned. Seriously, they had been a bit inattentive in the previous timeline but now? At first it had been because of money and working to be able to pay bills and keep the house and put food on the table. She didn't like it, but she understood it. Then there had been a brief period of maybe a year where they had time to spend with them and actually be parents to her and Danny.

Then people came to their doorstep one day. People dressed in fancy white suits that her mind recognized as G.I.W. agents now, but didn't know at the time. The agents talked to her parents where she couldn't hear but after the agents left her parents started working again. Even more so now even though her then ten year old mind couldn't truly think of a reason why.

Even now as she absentmindedly worked through her schoolwork for the day, she couldn't think of one solid reason. Maybe the agents had threatened her parents with something. Maybe they had offered money if they'd build the portal for them? Wait…

Why a portal? This wasn't why her parents built the portal last time! What would the agents even stand to gain from it? It was being constructed in her basement, not some government lab!

Which brought her thoughts around to her brother again. He didn't know that she had memories to. He didn't know that she had gone back, for lack of a better phrase, with him. Would he have to purposefully go into the portal this time? Would Sam and Tucker be there with him again when it happened? Would he tell them about it beforehand? She knew she would be there, she had no doubt about that. It was the lack of knowing for certain about most everything else that had her worried.

Maybe she should set those thoughts aside for later? It wouldn't do her any good to dwell on them now when she couldn't even do anything.

Jazz resolved that she would have to talk to him later when they got home. She would tell him that she knew a lot of the same things he did, even if she wasn't able to tell him about the reset or why it happened. That was going to be hard, but if she heard Clockwork right then they'd both be able to remember in about two and a half years. Maybe three.

It was a long time to wait.


	3. Chapter 2

Amity Park

Fenton Household

Two Weeks Later

Jazz was freaking out. She felt it was justified and completely understandable. Her brother's girlfriend and his best friend were here with her, sitting beside her and trying to console her even though she had just dumped a lot of information on them. They were already dealing with the fact that Danny was missing. They didn't need all of this to!

"It's okay Jazz." Sam had hugged her, despite probably thinking that she was crazy.

"We'll find Danny and we'll kick whoever's ass we've got to that tries to get in our way." Tucker added. He was tapping away at his phone, hoping to find more information in order to find his friend. Seriously, Danny had found two of the most amazing people she had ever met. Jazz couldn't help but sigh to try and clear her head and heart. Her brother was smart. He'd be able to get away somehow and find them if they didn't find him first.

"Are you going to tell him that you went into the portal and turned it on and are now a half-ghost? Provided he doesn't come back to us as one himself. I mean, even if he was...you know what I mean." Jazz gave a weak laugh at Sam's attempt to voice her half formed thoughts. Yes, she had stepped into the portal. Her parents had finished it, it hadn't worked, and once the coast was clear and they were out of the house, she had stepped inside and turned it on.

"Yes. Of course I'm going to tell him."

What had she been thinking? She had been thinking that she had no clue if her brother was alive so maybe becoming a half-ghost like he did would help her. She had been thinking that she finally had a chance to understand some of the things her brother had gone through. She had been thinking that this was a way to find Clockwork, maybe, and potentially find and rescue her brother that way. There was a lot of maybe's involved in her near impulsive decision. There had been a lot of Sam telling her that she could have died and what would Danny have thought, memories of another time or no. The only reckless decisions, Sam had said once the younger teen had calmed down, would be the one with a plan, a backup plan, and a plan for if the backup plan didn't work.

"Why did you just, decide to believe me? The story I told you, anyway. It could have all been made up- I mean, my brother being a half-ghost teenager who became a superhero? I would have thought I was crazy, if I were you."

"Maybe because superheroes and mutants exist? Oh, and aliens to." Tucker asked back without looking up from his phone, his eyes narrowing for a moment behind his glasses as he paused to think about something.

"I was about to say don't forget the aliens." Sam commented with a grin.

Huh?

"Wait. Oh yeah. New timeline memories hold on." They waited as Jazz collected herself a bit more.

"Tucker?" Tucker hummed a 'what' sound in reply to Sam's question, "What are you doing?"

"Remember how you said not even ten minutes ago how, even if we're going to do something stupid and reckless, we should still have some kind of plan?"

"Yeah?"

"And a backup plan for the plan?"

"Where are you going with this?" Jazz kind of wanted to know to. She could guess, but the older teen was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that superheroes and mutants and aliens were apparently a thing in this timeline. Oh, and also attempting to keep her newfound powers in check. She had already had one close call with her parents and a case of her arm deciding that "hey, I'm going to go invisible now whether you like it or not. Also, I'm going to feel tingly and numb for a whole five minutes afterward" would be a good idea.

"Hm. I'm just forming an email to whatever group of heroes we end up wanting to send it to. You know, in case the police don't find anything worth shit and neither can we for one reason or another."

Right, "Good plan Tuck." Jazz thought it was as good of a plan as any. If regular police couldn't find anything, and they couldn't find anything, asking a superhero seemed reasonable.

"Right now though," Sam brought their attention to her after a beat of silence, "We need to focus on plan A. And plan A is, currently, to find out what you, Jazz, can do, what kind of control you have, and see how it's different or similar to what you said Danny said he could do in the beginning. After that we work from there to help you with your powers; see if me and Tucker can't strengthen ourselves so that we can actually hold our own against a ghost, or half-ghost if Vlad's, you know, around; and see if we can't somehow find Clockwork to ask him where Danny is and if he will or is going to be okay in the future. Since the whole ordeal with Pariah hasn't happened...yet, then we can't rely on Frostbite or even hinge on the existence of the Infi-Map." All because things have changed. Yeah, there was a lot of things that the three of them needed to get done and made sure happened.

"You have the notebook with you?" A notebook wasn't exactly the most secure place to be writing down this stuff but it was something and could always be destroyed somehow if/once they found a more safe place to put all of this information.

"Do you, ya know, want a Ghost name? Like how superheroes have alter egos with names related to their powers and abilities?"

"Uh, sure. It's probably safer if I pick something now anyway, in case I need to use it later. But if Danny's going to stick with Phantom… How about Neon? While not a ghost themed name, it does have something to do with my powers, if in a vague and symbolic way." As they went through a list of things as well as whatever else they could come up with in the moment, they found out a lot of things about what Jazz could do. Anything that they weren't sure of they listed as Speculated while those that they knew she'd get later with practice were listed under In Development.

"How's your senses? Anything new pop up? Handling it okay?"

"Yeah Sam. I'm okay. Other than maybe being able to pick up on more things at a farther distance. Also, I think I may be getting, um, instincts? Maybe? Like the territory kind 'cause the thought of other, full ghosts just coming here without permission is making me annoyed. Coming here and wanting to harm any of the people here? Angry. Hm...There's also my being protective of you two and mom and dad but I already was before. I think now it's just different somehow. Like, instead of _wanting_ to protect you guys and keep you all safe and happy, it's a _need_ now. And part of me, my instincts maybe, is sad that my parents haven't acted too much like parents and is finding it harder and harder to see them as that. To recognize them as that. I mean I know they love me and Danny and I could maybe understand it when they were bouncing around from job to job trying to keep us afloat when their inventions weren't well received and their work to. I can't understand though why they let themselves go back to that even though now we don't have that hanging over our heads...anyway. Sorry-"

"Jazz? Don't be sorry. You and Danny both have been bottling all this up for how long now? Danny mentions it sometimes. Talks to us when it starts to get too bad and it starts spilling over, so to speak. You should know by now that you can to." Tucker interjected, "Anything else? I'm making a list on my phone to, just in case."

It took a minute before Jazz spoke again, "I also feel a need to find Danny and make sure he's okay. But again I'm not sure how much of that is me from before or the ghost part of me now. I guess the thought of the whole instincts thing, aside from the territory stuff, is if I'm scared. Like, twice now, in as many days, I've been startled by someone or something, and I have to fight with myself not to turn invisible, intangible, or something."

"Sounds like instincts to me." Sam stated with a shrug before writing that into the notebook.

"I think my enhanced sight is mainly for night vision, though my farsightedness has been fading in and out between that, nearsighted, and twenty-twenty. My hearing has leveled out I think. Can't tell until we actually start testing this. Balance is fine although now I have to explain to some people how I'm suddenly so graceful. Should I start taking up some kind of dance, or just say that I like to dance? Or say that I like to do gymnastics as a hobby? If anyone asks of course."

"Maybe say you dance as a hobby. If you want to. That decision's up to you."

"Right."

ALIAS: NEON

POWERS, ABILITIES, AND OTHER THINGS:

ECTOPLASM MANIPULATION / with sub categories of powers (In Development)

INVISIBILITY (In Development)

INTANGIBILITY (In Development)

FLIGHT/DEFIANCE OF GRAVITY (In Development)

ENHANCED SENSE OF HEARING, SMELL, SIGHT, BALANCE

INSTINCTS (In Development)

"Nothing else so far?"

"Nothing else that I know for sure that I'll get." Sam nodded her head once, making sure she wrote everything down before closing the notebook.

"So. Meet up at my house this weekend to see if anything has changed? And start training if you want." Jazz let out an almost exasperated sigh.

"Guys. I do want to. You don't need to ask me about every little thing. Now get out of here before you're parents call, or if you're deciding to stay then let them know- if you're going to ask 'are you sure?' I'm going to scream."

* * *

In the Middle of Freaking Nowhere, USA

Guys in White Central Lab

Danny woke up slowly. The question of when he had even fallen asleep would have made it's way through his mind had his head not been throbbing in pain from harsh light overhead and a lot of loud noise going on around him. There was yelling and it was hard to tell what was going on other than there was two adults who were dragging him somewhere.

Come on, he shook his head a little to try and think clearer. What color are the walls? Silver, maybe metal or some mix of metals. There was a too clean smell that hospitals had too. And the people around him? They were wearing white. Lab coats over top other white clothes with safety goggles and gloves and heavy boots. Heavy because of the loud low sound he could hear as these people in white, men in white, no, that's wrong to. Guys…?

Oh shit. Where was he? What did the Guys in White want with him? He was human now, not half-ghost or half-dead or whatever it was going to be now. He was still the son of two paranormal scientists and inventors though. Maybe that had something to do with it?

Blinking to try and see what it was he was being lead to, he nearly choked.

The GIW had always stolen Fenton Tech and tried to claim it as their own. They had never gone too far though, only using the ecto-guns. They bought their other equipment like everyone else. At least, that's what he'd always assumed.

But this? Never in his life did Danny think they were capable of getting their hands on the blueprints for the Fenton Portal. Not once did he think they'd be competent enough to pull off making one if they did. And yet here he was, staring at a smaller replica of the Portal. It was large enough to fit a person inside, but not so huge that a vehicle like a large car or the Spectre Speeder could pass through it. While the design was different from his memories of the machine, there was no doubt in his mind what was going to happen to him.

The 'on' button was on the outside and while it was plugged in, it wasn't on. Fear spiked through him. What were they thinking? Put him on the inside, press the button and see what happened? Were they turning him into their own personal lab rat?!

"Stop squirming brat!" One of the agents holding him took his free hand and brought a fist down on his head. Danny merely hissed at the guy in response.

No. Please. Danny thought desperately. This isn't how it happened. He could take having to enter his parent's portal of his own volition. He could handle the possibility of his friends being there to witness it. He could not handle this though.

"Get him into the portal!"

He was supposed to be home, not here in some mad scientist ghost hunter's lab. He was supposed to be with his family, not with people who were less like humans and more like monsters in disguise. He shouldn't be here. The thought turned over and over in his mind as he was thrown roughly into the portal, landing painfully on his side. Danny winced as he hit cold metal. Please let his family be safe and not try to get involved, as much as he'd appreciate being rescued, he couldn't bear it if they were put in danger because of him. Danny started to get up, focusing on the people who cared about him instead of the monsters behind him, getting as far as a crouch before a 'click' echoed in his ears, followed by someone screaming as his mind shut down.


	4. Chapter 3

Amity Park

Manson Household

One Week Later

"So what do we have so far with powers? Anything new pop up since I asked a few days ago?" Sam asked, leaning back into a chair with 'the ghost notebook' open in her lap. Jazz wasn't sure if they'd actually be getting around to figuring out more about how her powers actually worked today, or if they'd be going over a plan for the three of them in regards to training in case of a fight. There was no sense in trying to be a superhero when you didn't know how to fight or know your way around your own superpowers.

"No. No new powers, control seems to be a bit better but that could be due to the 'have to do this right, or not do this at all' because of my parents. Ever since the portal started working they've been blathering on and on and...I'm not sure what their attitude is towards ghosts this time around. I'm still going to be careful, though, just in case." The redhead had noticed that while her parents, specifically her dad, could talk for hours about ghosts, nothing came up of tearing them apart or studying them beyond what she could only guess to be humane. Harmless tests to find out more about a new species. With more research, as her mom once explained over the dinner table just the evening before, they could discover that ghosts aren't just the ectoplasmic-bound spirits of the deceased. They could even find that what they've come to know of as ghosts may in fact be another species altogether.

Her mother's enthusiasm on that particular topic was as much exciting as it was terrifying and Jazz couldn't quite put into words why that was.

"Do you want to stay here for the rest of the weekend? So that you don't have that stress hanging over your head, I mean."

"I'll think about it. So, when are we going to get to testing this stuff?" She was eager, if nothing else, than to see what had changed with this reset. So far Jazz had noted and committed to memory that there was no ghost form and human form this time around. There was only one form that was human and ghost at the same time. She also noted the subtle glowing outline that surrounded her, barely perceptible unless one was in her personal space or looking at it from the corner of their eyes.

It was a similar deal with her shadow. Disappearing one moment, reappearing the next.

"In a minute. Answer this for me first, though. Have your parents mentioned Danny at all? Brought him up in conversation around you or with you after they were, um, informed that he's missing?"

Jazz gave Tucker a half hearted glare before responding to that.

"Nope. I can't be sure why, either. I mean it could be that they're trying to look past it, or that not talking about it, or maybe even not thinking about it, is a part of their way of coping. I wouldn't be sure how to bring it up to them anyway. They're doting on me now, to. Like they woke up from something and are attempting at the whole parenting thing for real now that their youngest kid and only son is…" Nope, her thoughts derailed in an instant. Do not think about that, was what she was thinking now to try and keep a grip on her emotions. Crying won't help right now. Becoming over emotional or frustrated or mad won't help either.

"It's been three weeks and the police have found nothing. Maybe they think he's dead, or that there's little chance of him coming back and feel like they, I don't know, failed somehow, and they're trying now to make up for that with you."

"But I don't want them to! Not like this! I just want my brother back." Steady yourself, Jazz thought, so that you can move forward and find your brother. Once you find him, then you can cry, "Can we just, get to testing my powers now?"

"Sure."

* * *

Ghost Zone

Clockwork's Lair

Yet Another Week Later

Another week had gone by before Jazz had been able to travel into the Ghost Zone. Her parents were out of the state for the next few days and she had completed homework for as far out as next week to try and prepare herself for the trip. No ghosts have showed yet aside from ecto-octopuses and a few other animal ghosts. Those she had managed to handle relatively well. It had taken Tucker's ability to learn the ins and outs of a Fenton Thermos and Jazz's ability to recall how it was built in the first place in order to make a similar containing device that didn't look like a canister for soup. Sam's connections and money also played a part, as without her, some of the materials they needed, they wouldn't have been able to get.

She had arrived at Clockwork's lair, or what she assumed to be his lair from what she remembered of Danny's description of the place. It looked more like a mix between a clock tower and a cathedral than anything. There was also something on the side of the building which stood on a floating island that looked suspiciously like one of those water wheels used to generate electricity. Gliding over to it, as she could afford to waste a little time on curiosity, the water that was running over it felt ice cold. Shivering, she tried looking in the direction that her brain told her was up, her eyes meeting first with the perpetually clouded sky.

Right now there was a swirling, shifting glob of bright lime colored ectoplasm up there which gave off light and just enough warmth to be noticeable. However Jazz's initial goal with little detour, finding the source of the water, would have to be left unfinished. She couldn't tell just by looking around. It may come from some island further up, or it may come from somewhere far off and the island above her that she could see was merely one of the places it passed through.

Turning again to the door to the time ghost's home and leaving the water be, Jazz touched down on ground in front of the entrance. A moment passed where she didn't know what to do. Should she knock? Should she just go ahead and open the door under the assumption that the ghost of time knew she was coming and that she'd be here now?

The door opened the second she decided to go ahead and knock.

"Neon! Le'xuna! Sha'thi're xi'luruma wita'lu, baru'demo." While Jazz couldn't understand a lick of what had come out of Clockwork's mouth, from the tone of his voice she concluded it was some kind of greeting followed by a "wait a minute while I finish something". So she took a step further and into the lair so that the door could close behind her and waited.

A minute passed before the ghost of time appeared. He didn't look too much different from what she remembered. He hadn't changed ages like how Danny described though. The ghost still had blue skin and completely red eyes with the part that was supposed to be black being a darker shade of red. He had feet and legs and pants that matched his cloak and shirt, surprisingly, instead of a misty, snake-like tail. Either there was no clock in his chest or he covered it this time around. Also his staff looked like the scythe form it had taken just before time reset. All of that noticed within the time it took him to walk over to her.

"I am sorry, did you understand any of that?" He looked genuinely apologetic as he asked that.

Jazz raised an eyebrow, "No, but I think I caught the intended meaning of the first part. Uh, let me see if I can sound it out. Leh-ks-oo-nah? That right? That was some kind of greeting, wasn't it? And the last part seemed like you saying wait a minute because I need to finish something I can't just step away from right now." Clockwork smiled and chuckled.

"Yes to both, Eon. Le'xuna means good morning, day, or light depending on what translation you'd like to use and the context, of course. Bah-roo-deh-moh is one moment, or one second. Not nearly as many words as you described."

"So, ghosts have a language this time around. Did you have one before?" The ghost of time shook his head, keeping a smile and, from what Jazz's sense of smell could pick up now, a calm, relaxed mood that he might have been trying to outwardly show. Was it so she wouldn't be tense or wary around him? Were there others here that he thought she'd be uncomfortable around? Or was she misreading this entirely? That was certainly possible.

"We sometimes used dead human languages, or the languages that some ghosts had learned when they were alive, but we had no language of our own. Now however, as you could hear, we do. Would you like me to teach it to you?"

Jazz hummed, "Is Danny alive and will he be okay and return home soon?" Sadness crept into his emotions, which almost made Jazz panic if not for that it was gone almost as quickly as it came.

"Yes he is alive. Yes he will return to you. How soon, I can only say within a year, None of what I see shows him being gone for longer than that."

"So you know where he is then? Could you go get him? Or send someone to bring him back? Or tell me and I could-" As they talked, Clockwork lead them both to a smaller room off to the side that looked to be like an average living room. If all average living rooms had a giant fireplace and a Victorian England style to everything in it from floor to ceiling. They settled themselves into two chairs facing the roaring green colored fire before Clockwork spoke again.

"I can't. The Observants," Clockwork paused when Jazz gave no indication of recognizing the name, "I'll tell you more about them later. They've been on my case for the past few weeks already and I don't want to have them poking their eyes into any more of my business than they already have. So, no, I cannot leave myself nor send someone else to get him. They would no doubt see it."

"What about me then?"

"No." At Jazz's glare which demanded explanation he backtracked, "It is bad enough that he is there and I can't just go and rescue him myself. It's bad enough that he is there at all. I cannot, will not, send you there knowing..."

Jazz sunk back into her seat, trying to process Clockwork's loss for words when attempting to say why he wouldn't at least tell her where Danny was. Did it fall under not being able to send anyone? No, he could've just said that if that were the case. Wherever Danny was, it was enough for Clockwork to radiate protective rage mixed with other emotions she wasn't able to recognize yet.

"Fine." If she couldn't find him herself, there was always Tucker's email and, if they were truly desperate, Vlad if he was willing to help them out. They'd be able to find him soon, he'd return soon, that knowledge was enough for now, "Then will you teach me that language? And my powers?"

It took a while for Clockwork to answer her. He was having enough trouble keeping himself from tearing the fabric of his chair and calming himself down so that he wasn't giving the fireplace a look that promised death. When he was able to answer, however, it was with a question of his own.

"When would you like to start?"


	5. Chapter 4

The Ghost Zone, Clockwork's Lair

Three Months Later

It may have started with learning the Ghost language and learning her powers, but it didn't end with them. Jazz had quickly noticed there were a lot of things she'd need to remember and keep track of for the language alone, much more for everything else she thought to ask and what the ghost of time was willing to teach her. Which included nigh everything.

The first month was dedicated solely to learning more about her powers and abilities. She could perform some minor shapeshifting, such as turning her legs into a long, wispy snake-like ghost tail; or simple visual illusions to change things like the color of her hair. Both would help in keeping her ghost half a secret as she would have to consciously shapeshift back or lift the "glamours" as Clockwork called them, for them to go away. Her eyes would change to a red and style much like Clockwork's own whenever her emotions were running high regardless of whatever glamours she had on. It worked well to her advantage as her ghost alter ego as her eyes would be like that all the time, but as her human self, it needed to be kept in check.

As for other powers, Jazz found that she had a cold aligned, electric core. Which basically meant that she could stand the cold better than most and would gain the manipulation of electricity later on. She had asked to be able to learn now, but Clockwork had thought it a bit too soon. She was still having trouble holding onto things with normal telekinesis as it was.

The Ghost Language, which the word for it was pronounced something like thah-loo-thah-sheh, even though the actual word wasn't nearly as long in written form, wasn't nearly as hard to learn as she thought it would be. Maybe it had something to do with being half-ghost, as it was taking Sam and Tucker nearly twice as long as her to learn it all. It helped that Clockwork made learning in general a fun experience rather than a monotonous one like her teachers at school did. Like, to say numbers higher than ten you'd have to say ten and one or ten and ten and three. It was new and interesting to her by itself more so than history or formalities.

And with formalities? There was a way to address a ghost who was stronger or older than you, if you knew, and a way to address a ghost who was younger or weaker in power than you. Even with her sense of smell, Jazz couldn't tell the difference, though that may be from lack of experience. Or it could be a downside to her half-ghost side that she didn't see coming. Of course there were going to be downsides.

There was one ability that caught her off guard that Clockwork seemed to suspect would happen. It showed itself late into her second month of being his apprentice of sorts and revealed a few things after yet another round of questions. She had the ability to See things. There currently wasn't a way to tell if it was the past or future while having a vision, however she could, and did, write down what she saw and sometimes, sparingly, asked the time ghost about a few of them that she thought may be related to the past.

So far she had gotten lucky and they had been past events, however that luck wouldn't last if she continued to ask questions about what she Saw.

Clockwork explained that she had this ability, not because of her nigh constant worry over her little brother as she first thought, but because of what happened when she turned the portal on. He had said, in a hesitant manner that seemed very unlike him, that in order for someone to become a half-ghost, an actual ghost would have to be involved, not just ectoplasm or ecto-radiation. Enough of either of those two would kill a person, and not in a quick and painless way either. Vlad was a good example of what could have happened if a ghost wasn't immediately involved, as someone had to have visited him during his months long stay at the hospital and give him a bit of their ki'su'ka'su. Their blood, or essence, which in this case would be used to change the human's DNA around to accept them as an additional parent. The literal translation of the word was 'with soul life', which Jazz found interesting but not really useful.

To say that she had fainted upon the statement that Clockwork was now this third parent for her would be a completely accurate statement.

Her ghost alter ego, Neon, was getting some mixed reactions from Amity Park citizens and other ghosts alike. Some humans liked her and appreciated that she kept the more malevolent ghosts and raging animal ghosts from hurting anyone. Other humans didn't like her, or ghosts in general. Others still were on the fence for one reason or another. Ghosts were of similar minds, but with different reasoning. Most of those who didn't like her fell under the "she's half human and half ghost, something that shouldn't exist and therefore is a freak, abomination of nature" or some other similar train of thought. Others didn't like her because she fought them, sometimes, and made them return to the ghost zone. The reasons for all sides varied from ghost to ghost.

Some of the ghosts that liked her were ones that she made deals with in exchange for continued stay in and passage to and from Amity Park and the Ghost Zone. These included the Lunch Lady, the Box Ghost, and a couple more intelligent ghost creatures.

During one of her twice a week visit to Clockwork's place with the intent to find out more about the whole "I'm now related to you and Danny probably is or will be to from the way you've been acting" thing, Jazz found that being related to the ghost of time itself wasn't nearly the end of it.

Which is how she found herself sprawled out on the ground, groaning in pain and embarrassment as two ghosts she had never met before tried and failed to hide their laughter. One looked relatively human, with actual white skin and not the human-pale that counted as white. He, from what Jazz could tell by scent and a second later by sight, had red eyes but no no, no mouth, maybe not even ears from what Jazz could see. Or maybe he did have those things but chose to hide them. She hadn't gotten far yet into detecting other ghosts' glamours so that was still a possibility even if she didn't know it. He was also wearing a hat and dark clothes.

The other ghost, a woman, had green skin, red eyes, black hair that was tied back into a braid and a ghost tail. Her own clothing, mainly blue with some gold to accent it, was minimal, and looked more like it was there as jewelry rather than clothing. That there was actual jewelry, wristbands and necklaces and earrings of gold, helped with that.

"Oh, it seems we scared the poor girl." The guy ghost nodded at the woman's comment but made none of his own. "Dreadfully sorry. Here, let's help you up… there we are! My name is Desiree and this is Amorpho, sister. Would you happen to know where father is?"

Father? Jazz knew to expect the changes by now, knew that there had to be more to this explanation of her half-ghost status than just how she was able to survive the very real almost-accidentally-killing-herself. But…

"You're my siblings? Um, it's nice to meet you both, really, but I don't know where he might be. My name is Jazz, by the way. Or Neon." Great, now this turned awkward.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you as well. Father must be at some meeting that those damned Observants called if he isn't here. Anyway, we've heard of you from some other ghosts and wanted to ask father about you, but since you are here, you could tell us yourself!" Desiree grinned before floating over to one of the other chairs in the room and sitting down. The ghost, with but a thought, changed her ghostly tail to legs that were covered by a blue skirt that trailed down to her ankles.

"Oh. Um. I'm not sure what you want me to say." She really didn't, even if she vaguely knew them from the other timeline, it wasn't as if she'd ever gotten to know them. Amorpho didn't shift into any other shape, choosing to remain silent as he to sat down in one of the chairs that Jazz just now noticed were facing her now and not the fireplace. Or was it that he couldn't say anything, rather than didn't? Maybe it was better not to ask because even in the culture she grew up it, it would be considered rude.

"Hm. Why do you protect that human city? Is it that you were formed, ah, born there?"

"That's part of it," As Jazz thought more on her answer, she came up with an idea, "The other part is so my brother has a home to come back to."

"Brother?"

"Yeah. My younger brother. He's missing. Has been for the past few months but I know he's not, you know, dead but I can't just go out and look for him and Clockwork said he couldn't just go and get him because of those Observant guys and…I'm sorry."

"You are doing what you can but it doesn't seem enough. We will help you find our brother. Our elder siblings were taken from us because of a madman. I will not see our youngest fall to a similar fate." Desiree spoke as she moved to sit on one of the arms of the chair Jazz was sitting in and give her a hug, "Family is important to us. As ghosts, and as people. We will find him, and we will hurt those who took him from us."

"That's...thank you, Desiree."

"You feel better now?" Amorpho, silent still even as Desiree talked enough for the both of them, stood to stand next to them.

"Yeah. I think so. Could you tell me about these older siblings you mentioned? If it's not too much trouble. Or maybe just some things about yourselves if it is?"

"Of course! Morph, would you mind if I told her about you first? Wonderful…"

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter is so short.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Sorry, this is another short one, but things seem to be picking up as far as the plot, I think, and there hopefully won't be many long timeskips from here on out. Oh yeah, and this is a crossover now. With the MCU but mostly Avengers.**

 **Wanda and Pietro are part of the Avengers (I have their ages at, like, 20) although the whole Age of Ultron thing never happened. Basically a lot of things have changed. Blame Danny and the reset of the timeline for the Marvel part being an AU.**

* * *

Somewhere in New York City

One month later…

"Hawkeye? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Captain America asked through the bluetooth communicator attached to his ear. They'd been called for a mission to investigate what is speculated to be a mutant's power gone haywire. Some of the X-men were expected to be arriving shortly to aid them both but neither Storm nor Cyclops had arrived yet.

They could really use it, with what he thinks he's seeing.

If he's right, then the supposed mutant had more than enough reason to snap or lose control.

"You mean the tiny as fuck room that might as well be a prison cell, but without anything in it that would make it an actual prison cell? Or the smell in here? Or maybe the words and pictures carved into the walls?" That was only the tip of the iceberg and added fuel to the flame that was burning through Steve Roger's mind.

"Okay obviously not the same, then. I'm looking at, uh, giant tubes. I think. There's children in some of them." He heard Clint curse at the other end, "I think I saw a baby in another and there's...goo? Slime? I don't think I want to know. It's all frozen over though, like everything else in this place."

"Well shit. This room's freeze of ice. Cold as hell though, gotta say. No sign of whoever trashed the place. You see anything?"

Anything living? No. Steve responded after another minute of looking around the rather large room with what he counted as twenty odd tubes that connected to both floor and ceiling.

Steve tuned out some of the more colorful curses that came out of Clint's mouth as the other Avengers surveyed and took necessary photographs of the room. He'd already done so with this one.

"There aren't any dead bodies, other than the ones in those tubes you found. 'Tasha tracked down a guy in a lab coat that looked to be a straggler and had him tied up back on the Helicarrier by now, probably. Tony 'n' Bruce are looking into an address I found, also carved into a wall."

"You think whoever did this, whoever was being held here, wants us to find them?"

"Or be able to contact their family if we found 'em dead. Yeah." Steve grimaced at the thought but silently agreed that it was likely. From how Clint had been describing that room, and how this one looked like, he wouldn't blame the person for thinking they might not be getting out of this place alive.

"C'mon, let's get out of here and wait for Storm and Cyclops. Anything data-wise that would give us more information has been frozen over to the point of "it's not worth it to try and get the things running" so we might as well show them what we've got." Not to mention the spikes of ice that they'd both seen going in that broke through the ceiling.

"And let them know about the...mad scientist?"

"Until we know otherwise, mad seems appropriate."

It took a while to calm the two X-men down enough to call the mission done and go their separate ways. The two of them wanted to be kept up-to-date with what was going on to which they couldn't promise.

* * *

When they arrived at the Helicarrier, two things stood out to Steve. One, the other Avengers, including Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch and excluding Thor who was still in Asgard, were all sitting around the table they used for meetings while they were here. Usually they used a room in the Avengers Tower.

Natasha and Tony both had expressions on their faces which told Steve that they were barely holding back anger.

Bruce was looking green in a way that was more being physically ill than the Hulk.

"What'd you find?" Clint asked as he sat down in his seat. Steve took a little longer, doing so with all the grace of a half asleep elephant.

"Well," Tony was the one who started talking first, staring into a glass of something that wasn't alcohol like he wished it was, "That email that we got a few months ago and haven't been able to turn up anything from it? I had Jarvis email them back asking about the address that we found. They responded with a total of three phone numbers and I've been off and on call with them. From what Jarvis and I dug up after the initial email, we came to the conclusion that they were the parents of this kid we're looking for. Turns out it was his older sister, friend, and girlfriend who just used one of the parent's email."

"They're kids?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow. Steve was thinking similar thoughts. How the hell did something like this get past Tony Stark of all people? Or Jarvis, for that matter?

"Teenagers. One of them admitted to going through personal information and coding it so no one could get to it. You know, so the kidnapper creeps would have a harder time in getting to them next. If that was their goal. Anyway, the older sister flipped when I told her about those pictures you forwarded to me and the guy we caught. Seriously, this conversation just happened a few minutes before you got here. So she told the other two and they proceeded to flip."

"By the way, the guy in question is being pretty tight-lipped. All we know for sure is that it wasn't just him who was there and that those tubes were meant to create clones of the kid they kidnapped." Natasha added, to which Tony nodded his head.

"Were. As in they weren't clones?" Steve could hardly believe it. He could believe, however, why Bruce was looking a little more green than before. He wouldn't blame the guy for the Hulk appearing right about now. This was a new level of messed up.

"Yeah. All we've been able to do as of right now is close that building off and set up some agents around to monitor it. In case any of those other guys try to go back there."

"As in, wait, you said that those people that contacted us were teenagers-"

"One of them, at least, being a genius."

"The older sister of this kidnapped kid is a teenager to-"

"Yup."

"So this likely a mutant kid is also a teenager?"

"She confirmed that, yeah." By now, with the way that this back and forth exchange was going, some of the others were beginning to realise where Steve's train of thought was going. Pietro and Wanda seemed to have already catch on if their looks of horror were anything to go by.

"We don't know how, exactly those children, in the tubes, were made but I bet you that they are actually this teenager's kids," Steve stressed the last two words, pausing to take a breath before continuing on, "If that mad scientist's word is anything to go off of. If that's the case, and if even one of those children survived, the teen might have done all of that in order to get them out of there before more damage could be done." There was a lot that he hadn't said. There was a lot of if's in his theory, but it seemed everyone else knew about the other possibilities as well. Like, even if none of the children were alive, he still might've escaped for the same reason, among others.

"We need a clearer picture of what they'd done to him first. Some of the hallways were blocked by ice or a collapsed roof, so there might be more to this story than this. One thing's for sure though. We need to find him. Sooner rather than later. Even if he had his abilities under control, mutant or not, child, children, or none...He's still going to be out there somewhere. Likely hurt, lost, and untrusting of just about everyone."

"That's not the end of it." Natasha spoke up again, "If he's trying to find his way back home then we need to be on the look out, not just for him, but for the people that kidnapped him. They might not be willing to let him go so easily. We also need to keep an eye on his family and friends at least so that they have protection in case they're being targeted now instead."

"What if he's not going home?" This was the first that Pietro had spoken and it looked to Steve like he and Wanda both agreed that he'd be speaking for them both, "He could be trying to avoid them for that reason. Or avoid people in general."

"Let's not forget that he might have an even younger kid, or two, or whatever, hell, might be a baby. Either way, that means he'd at least have to stick close to some kind of city or town-"

"Unless he knows his way around the wilderness," Bruce cut Tony off mid sentence, "We don't know anything about him or his powers other than that he has some kind of manipulation over ice. For all we know he could be perfectly fine with living as far away from society as possible and could be, at this very moment, teaching that to whoever might be with him."

"Can me and Pietro be the ones to go to wherever his home is? To keep an eye on his family and keep them informed?" Wanda asked.

"Yes. There's also a local hero there that you should be able to get in touch with. The kid's sister said Neon, that's the hero's alias, should be pretty easy to convince into helping you."


	7. Chapter 6

**Okay. There are some things I want to say before this chapter starts. First off! Thank you all who favorited and follow and review this thing. When I started writing this it was more so in the hope to inspire other people to write their own stories (based on this or not). I did not as many to praise this thing as however many people did. I'll try to compile a list of as many of you all as I can find.**

 **Second thing! If you make a fic based on this, and yeah it's fic open season or whatever. Or fan art. Or whatever else. Go wild. Be free. Just let me know so I can see what it is that you made! I made this as something new. Something that could make you go "oh! Now I have an idea for a thing!"**

 **And last but not least.**

 **Danny's pov continues to elude me -.- I try to be the Ghost Boy but he doesn't want me snooping around in his business yet. All I'm able to tell you is that he isn't anywhere the Avengers will be able to find him. Easily. Without help.**

 **That is all.**

 **Now back to your regularly scheduled *ahem* sorry. Irregularly scheduled (short still? What is going on?) chapter.** :)

* * *

Amity Park, Illinois

Two Days later...

Wanda's POV

* * *

Thanks to Tony Stark's money and influence, they reached Amity Park in record time. Only a few hours. They took some time after to settle in a hotel and sleep off the jetlag and time difference. Wanda, at first, wasn't entirely sure how'd they go about watching this group that consisted of the rest of the kid, Danny's, family, friends, and the families of those friends. She quickly found their work easy, however. For the most part, Jazz, Danny's sister, and Sam and Tucker, his girlfriend and friend, frequented only a few places daily. On occasion they'd go out of the norm.

Of course she and her brother knew this because they'd given them all the situation and asked for cooperation. Jazz had taken on an odd expression during this conversation, which the Fenton parents were involved in, but Wanda hadn't really noticed anything else off about her. The expression went away quickly enough anyway, so she left it at a passing thought or emotion.

When Jazz did not make an appearance outside her house the next day, well, there could have been better times.

As Pietro was out making a food run for themselves and popping in to check on the other two families, minus Sam and Tucker who were once again at the Fenton's, calamity struck.

Not in the form of a monster or those mad scientists that she was meant to keep an eye out for, but the media.

Camera crews and news reporters both waltz up to the Fenton household as if it were routine by now. For all Wanda knew, from her vantage point for the time being on the roof of said house, it was.

She was proven right when Mrs. Fenton opened the door.

"Oh. It's you again. What could you possibly want this time? Or should I politely tell you all to fusk off like my husband did last time you were here?" The matriarch nearly snarled.

The news reporter closest to the woman said something in a tone too low for Wanda to catch. Should she go down there and help, somehow? It was clear to her that Mrs. Fenton did not want these people at her front door, maybe she could try and convince them to leave?

Just as she touched down to ground level, spooking a few people, Mrs. Fenton not included, she was given a bit more information as to what was going on.

"Scarlet Witch! Oh, we hadn't-"

"Mrs. Fenton clearly does not want any of you here, sir," Wanda stated plainly as she addressed the man who had spoken, "So if you would state your business, we would appreciate it."

"Right. Yes, of course. We were wonder that, as you are certainly aware, now that the young Mr. Fenton has shown to be a mutant, what his family thinks of this new development." Wanda frowned before turning just enough to see Mrs. Fenton's reaction. There were a lot of things unsaid, yet implied, in that single sentence alone. Wanda knew that mutant children with normal human parents didn't always have such normal lives after their mutation had been found out. Sometimes the mutation had been triggered because of less than pleasant conditions at home long beforehand.

Both women knew what kind of heavy weight that statement carried, and, to her credit, Wanda thought that Mrs. Fenton handled the situation with all the grace and finesse of a hunting predator.

"Well, Mr. Thunder. I would be very happy once my son has returned home, to start with. Then I'd probably make sure that the bastards who kidnapped him in the first place get what's coming to them."

"Okay, Mrs. Fenton but you didn't answer the question."

"Oh? About his ice? What do you want me to say about that? It's a part of him as anything else, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but he's a mutant now. Won't that change things?"

"I might have to keep the temperature cooler than I usually do, I suppose. That is a good question though, Mr. Thunder. I may very well have to throw out his winter clothes, or donate them, maybe. It really depends on how his ice affects him and his environment, so I can only give you guesswork and theories right now."

"So you don't hate him? For being a mutant?"

"I'm sure Jack has told you already. We love our son and will continue to love him no matter if he is a human, superpowered human, ghost, alien, etc. We love him no matter the powers he may gain or the feats he may be capable of." Ah, so that's where that earlier statement about her husband had been about, then.

The interview that wasn't exactly an interview, ended shortly after that.

Mrs. Fenton gestured for Wanda to come inside before she slammed the door shut and firmly locked it. In the next few minutes she had all the window curtains closed and the windows locked.

"Was it those media idiots again, Mrs. F?" Tucker asked from where he and Sam were on the couch, "Mr. F is in the basement, by the way. Hey Wanda. You should be able to see Neon soon. Last we heard she was patrolling the city for rogue ghosts and the like. When, or if, you and your brother decide to go back to the hotel, she agreed to meet you there. Or here. Either place is fine."

"What about-"

"We have a truce, of sorts." Mrs. Fenton said by way of reply before heading downstairs to see what project her husband was working on now.

"What kind of truce?"

"One where they find out more about what ghosts are really like in exchange for only hunting down the ones that actually mean to cause harm. Like, ones where it's pretty clear that Neon needs backup. And now that you're here, you guys could maybe help out to. If your powers affect ghosts that is. If not, you're stuck with weaponry that Mr. and Mrs. F give you, though Quicksilver may need them regardless." Sam sighed after that little explanation, looking bored at the TV like Tucker was doing.

"Where's Jazz?"

"In her room, maybe. She said she had homework and didn't want to be disturbed. She should be done in a few hours though, if you needed to talk to her."

"No, that's fine. Pietro should be here soon with food I think. What are you watching?"

"We're flipping through the Science, History, Discovery and Animal Planet channels. Wanna watch with us?"

Well, she had nothing better to do than wait and her brother had said that he'd be able to make sure the other two families were fine, "Sure, why not?"


	8. Chapter 7

I told you I'd try to compile a list of names, I'm pretty sure this is everybody~

Shout out to all of the follows and favorites this story have received. You all are wonderful. :3

Professor Frogenshtein, Dani of the Electroclan, TheSilentWarden, RedHerring1412, dvorak-lover, Noenay, Aexroh, SomniumofLight, Lia the kitten, Alalaya2, OrganicAI, Vanyell, IEscapedTheCrimsonRoom, HateIsRealAndItsMe, kitkatkate2008, bystanderwitnessing, evildarkkitten, Xxibio, MrSnowWolf, Arthicern, Inspirational-Music-Listener, Hoytti, Luna Silverlily, Siranai Atsune, doyousmoke, islamy96, Conbur

Now on with the chapter.

* * *

Location...Location Undetermined.

Select option for Inter-Realm searches? Y/N

Y

Locating…

Location found.

Asgard

One day later...

Frigga's Pov

Asgard, Castle

Frigga had not expected Loki's trial to have his magic bound, his lips sewn shut, and his self banished to Midgard to work there and aid them as penance for his actions. She had not expected Odin to have ordered such a barbaric action. Thor had thankfully been with him and had taken him to one of the healers so that Loki would not risk infection.

She had not expected to see two children in the castle gardens the very next morning, after her sons had left. Thor following Loki to aid a group of Midgard's defenders and watch over his brother.

She took the children to the healers and had guards placed to watch over them when she could not. The wounds on the older child were numerous and a horrid sight to see. The malnutrition was almost worse. Signs of temporal misalignment in the younger had everyone scratching their heads. These were Midgardians, they had determined.

Midgardians who had traveled through Yggdrasil, through a magic they had never seen before and had yet to identify, to end up on Asgard.

The potential reasons why, given the information presented to Frigga, sickened and frightened her.

She took care of them in her own rooms once the healers released them a day after she'd found them even though they had yet to wake up by then. Odin either had not heard of them or had not thought these Midgardians important enough, their situation important enough, or their magic, to see them or talk to her about them.

Maybe he was waiting. She reasoned. Maybe he wanted to talk to them himself, or just the older one, once they were healed and awake.

Somehow she thought that wasn't the case.

Frigga fed them and wrapped the older one's bandages and made sure they were monitored at all times by their guards and her servants so they had the best care possible. She needed to contact her sons soon about them, she knew, but doing so now may end up causing more harm than good.

It was a few days later as Frigga was walking back to her rooms that one of her servants rushed up to her looking panicked and told her that the younger one, the girl, was awake.

Frigga picked up the pace and arrived just in time to see the girl moving, perhaps startled at her entrance, into a protective, hunched over stance in front of the older boy.

* * *

Dana's Pov

Dana Lilian Fenton, as her dad had named her, was scared out of her mind. She woke up in an unfamiliar place. That she already knew would happen because her dad had done a ghost thing. They had been in a pretty and colorful place with a nice smell last she saw though. She'd have to ask for the names of all those different and new things later.

Now there were strange people. Strange clothes on her body. Strange smelling things everywhere and some of it on her dad and what if they were hurting him? These new odd people smelled like nervousness. Others outside where she couldn't see smelled like calm feelings and metal. One of the odd smelling people with a smell she couldn't recognize but knew it was as ingrained in them as the one which told her that her dad was her dad, fled the room to a person whose footsteps she could hear clicking against the floor outside the room.

As that person entered the room she quickly got into a low crouch she'd seen her dad do to protect her, her fingers brushing the end of the bed that might name a name she didn't know. She stayed there, tense, growling, and wondering just how she was going to protect him now when she still felt weak and had hardly any control over her ghost powers.

Like now when her left arm went invisible right in front of the strangers who were staring at her. Why weren't they doing anything? Why weren't they shouting like the bad people did?

The bad people would have been shouting and growling their not real growls and would have been trying to grab Danny from the room to take him somewhere to hurt him.

"I will not harm you." Somehow she could understand the person that just walked in perfectly fine where as the others spoke a strange language to match the strange everything else.

"Not harm? Why? Others harm, hurt, us. Why will you not?" Dana's own speech was choppy. She knew enough of her dad's languages to make simple conversation with them all but there was still a lot she didn't know. She couldn't read yet in any of them, English, Esperanto, Spanish and Latin, nor could she write either. Her dad hadn't had the time nor the materials to properly teach her everything that he wanted to.

Danny had promised that she would be taught better when they were home.

"You both needed treatment. You were injured and malnourished." At her confused look she explained, "You had not been eating enough."

Oh. Dana's growl dropped off.

"Thank you."

"It is no problem, dear."

"You know...when? When he wakes up?" She asked, curling up into his side like a cat while keeping her eyes on everyone else in the room. This person may be kind but she didn't know about the others yet.

The person's face twisted into a frown, "Sadly no. He is healing well, however, so it should not be too long." Dana nodded her head once.

"May I know your name?"

"Dana."

By now, another person entered the room with two large things filled with food. A second person entered with something her dad described as a cup. A thing that holds water. But these cups looked different. The tray things looked weird. They were large and round while the ones she was used to were small and square.

Dana sniffed, trying to process all the information that her sense of smell gave her as quickly as possible. The cup did hold water and it didn't smell funny like it sometimes did back in the bad place. The food was what caught her eye and made her sit up, giving most of her attention to it. The food was strange, not like the "sloppy, goopy, bland tasting mush" that she remembered having.

There was something that seemed like water but was in a lower, wider cup and had bits of colorful things in it. There was some kind of tool beside it that had a round end with a dip. Was that so she could scoop up the bits and the not-water without using her hands? It must be, she reasoned after a few seconds of thought. Using her hands would have been messy and drinking it like water would probably end up in the bits of food falling out of the weird cup.

There was also other, larger chunks of food. One was brown and mostly square while another one was something that seemed closest to the mushy stuff she'd eaten before, but with more color and actually smelled good.

Dana decided she'd eat that first. The stuff in the cup thing smelled too hot to chance eating and the brown thing was just really weird to her. At least the other foods made some sort of sense to her mind.

It took a while for her to eat everything. It hadn't been a lot, the person, Frigga, she remembered hearing, had told her. It was to try and make sure she wouldn't throw it all back up again later. When she asked why, one of the others had said it was because she was thin and hadn't been getting everything she needed so they had to make sure the food she ate wouldn't make her body want to throw it away.

At least, that's what she got out of it. They had used different words she didn't understand very well, so she just shrugged and nodded her head. Best to seem like she understood and not ask too many questions. She'd asked enough already about her dad and the food and didn't want to make them angry and start yelling at her.

Frigga had asked her, genuinely, to stay inside the room. Dana readily agreed. She didn't want to leave her dad right now. Or ever. Frigga had had said why, something about other people and not wanting her dad panicking if she wasn't there.

There was probably more to it than that but Dana had not been fully paying attention. She'd been more preoccupied with how big the room really was, once she thought herself safe enough to move around.

She'd poked and tugged and stuck her nose into nearly everything she could get her hands on, once Frigga had said it was alright. She'd formed her ghost tail like her dad had taught her, much to the shock-surprise-awe of the people watching her, and tried to hang from a long thin thing like the ones her dad made with his ice. Except those were white while these were yellow and shiny. They had these long red sheets hanging from them so she thought it'd be okay to hang from one by her tail and take a nap.

After an experimental tug to see if it'd hold her weight, as her dad had done a few times before, she abandoned that idea rather quickly and instead floated over to where Danny was to curl up again and take a nap next to him.

* * *

Frigga's Pov

So the younger child, Dana, had used her strange magic for abilities that she knew well. Shape-shifting was something that her son excelled at and could perform naturally without much effort. Dana apparently could do so as well, no matter the fact that in forming this "tail" of hers, Frigga's servants and the children's guards had caught the scent of icy cold and decay. A scent that had clung to the older boy, Danny, Dana had told her was his name, as he slept and healed.

She'd half a thought to conclude that they had jotunn in their blood, but the tests that she and the healers had ran when she'd initially had the two brought in proved that thought false. She knew no other beings who gave off such a distinct smell, especially not one that clung to their sweat and their blood and increased as they used their magic. Danny's to, was slightly different from the girl's in that his carried an addition smell of something burning and the smell of lightning.

She'd hazard a guess that the addition had something to do with the massive lightning scar that snaked it's way down his back, following his spine and ending just above his hips. It was darker than the rest of his skin and gave off a faint sickly green glow that she'd only noticed because she had been the one to wrap and treat his injuries.

At the site which she'd found them both is where another oddity was found. The area around there had been cold, likely do to Danny's magic, but there was the addition of the flowers around there being seen dead. Not frozen, but wilted, petals fall, color drained and life gone. They hadn't been rare and were easily replaced, but it wasn't the flowers she was worried about upon seeing it.

Was that how they gained their magic? Through plant life? Or was it just life in general? Had it simply been the environment that they'd been in and so had been driven to draining the life and magic of the things around them when they could not get all they needed from physical food? This train of thought lead to more questions than answers as Dana didn't know or understand much of what Frigga had asked, nor was Danny awake yet.

Still. He should be soon. The queen reassured herself. He could wake any minute and I must be prepared to provide him answers and sustenance, perhaps gaining answers of my own in return. Later though. My questions can wait. It is their recovery that I should focus on first.

Then there was the matter of how to broach the topic with her husband.

These children were a mystery. A mystery that Frigga only hoped Odin would not see as a threat. They were children, yet that hadn't stopped him from punishing Loki in the ways he had. If he were willing to order such things done to his own child, adopted or not, then, well, Frigga would not stand idly by any longer. She could not. These children both had been through far too much, she knew that even without knowing the details.

It had been mere hours since Dana had awoken yet she could not readily focus on her duties. There were disputes to be settled and a court to hold that Odin often spent his time doing, when there wasn't a war. Frigga had her hands full with the paperwork and the diplomatic side of things.

"Milady?" One of the guards called to her as she had just gotten through a stack of papers and letters, "The boy has woken up."

Oh thank goodness. Frigga had been starting to worry. Yet that did not explain why there was a strain in the guard's voice as he spoke.

"I'll be right there. How is he doing?" She asked as she started making her way down the hall to where her second room was, where the children were.

"Last I saw, when I left to find you, he was only just calming down from a panic, milady." Well then, it wasn't the best news she'd heard all day but she'd take it.

"Have one of the servants prepare a meal for him. Actually, have them prepare two meals."

The guard gave a slight, stiff bow, "Right away, milady.", and left.

She reached the room to find twin, glowing, bright acidic green eyes staring back at her from one of the far corners.

* * *

Danny's Pov

Dana had made sure that he hadn't gone flying off the handle, true, but Danny still had trouble calming his fears. The woman that had just entered the room wore a crown, or tiara of a sort, and from what else she wore and his other senses could gather, she held a position of power. It helped that the others, a couple guards and what seemed to be castle servants, referred to the woman as Milady or Your Majesty, so she was definitely royalty of some sort.

He'd never had much luck when it came to that. Aragon and Pariah Dark were good examples, though admittedly they were both drunk on the power they had.

Maybe this royal lady wasn't so bad. Dana seemed to like her well enough.

"Hello there, my name is Frigga," The woman greeted him with a smile. She walked over to them before sitting down, on the ground no less, a ways away in front of him, "I've sent someone to fetch you both food, as you must be hungry by now. Are you feeling well?"

Shit. While she seemed to be speaking English, his brain just had to register that she was, in fact, not, and the mixed signals his brain was getting made his head hurt. It resulted in him understanding the meaning behind what she was saying more so than the language itself. Danny hoped that Dana didn't have that problem.

There also wasn't any way for him to know that he would be understood in turn unless he tried speaking back.

"Hello to you, Ma'am. Where are we?" Might as well get straight to the point and ask at least some of the questions that were running around his head. If questions weren't allowed or the lady got mad at him for something then he'd find some other way to get him and Dana home from wherever it is they ended up.

"You're in Asgard, dear." So, questions were probably safe then, "I will send a message to Midgard soon once I know you've healed so that you may go back."

"Back where?" He asked and Frigga seemed to note her poor choice in wording.

She frowned, "Certainly not back to wherever it was you received those injuries, child."

Danny let out a breath he didn't know he was hold in relief.

"Thank you." Her gaze softened considerably at that.

"It is no problem. You two have been through more than some of our warriors have in battle, you deserve your peace. I do not need to know all of your story to know that much. Now, may I take a look at how you're healing?"

* * *

Sam's POV

GIW lab

As the teen stepped onto the ground outside of the airport, tugging at her coat and mittens, Sam wondered if she had made the right decision in coming here. As she neared the now abandoned GIW lab with Black Widow at her side, she was thankful that it was still winter so that she had a reason to be wearing winter clothes. Not that she would've cared what people thought about her, but more so for not giving them cause to notice her. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, nor need to, with what she came here for.

The hallways were quiet and their footsteps echoed and clinked against the frost covered floor. The SHIELD agents who had been assigned with clean up had done a good job thus far in clearing out most of the blockages, revealing more and more of the underground labyrinth that they had been denied. More rooms uncovered that told more of just what happened in this horrible place.

It wasn't the too small room that had been Danny's cell that was her destination. It wasn't the recently revealed lab in which a large tank of ice, perhaps what was once water, was placed. Nor was it the first room that the agents had found. A large area with a carved out oval center that lead to another level beneath them. The uncovered area was closed off at the top in a way that let more than one agent to guess that this was meant to be a fighting arena.

Those investigating that lower floor now were likely to confirm that idea, Sam guessed with a scowl.

Her destination was the room that Captain America had found. The one with the giant tubes and the...yeah.

Sam had to see them. Had to know that they were real. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had already run some kind of non invasive blood test that Tony had invented just now in order to not disturb the...frozen children. She'd already received confirmation that they were hers as well as Danny's.

She didn't want to know how the GIW had managed that.

"Are you okay?" Black Widow, Natasha, asked once they entered the room. She nodded once, taking in everything and trying her hardest to commit everything to memory.

"How many were there?" She asked after a long moment, moving to stand in front of one of the tubes. The sight of all of this tugged at her heart even as a picture, but being this close and seeing this all in person was something else entirely.

"There were fifty-four names." Fifty-four names that Danny had carved, somehow, into a wall. Fifty-four times, fifty-four kids, fifty-four lives lost.

The number beat within her mind like a drum.

She wouldn't know the name of this child she stood in front of, which name Danny had given him, unless she asked Danny herself.

"And there was one, outside of the list." Natasha added after a pause, "We're going off the theory now that, that name belonged to one that lived."

"But you don't know for sure."

"No."

It was a small hope that Sam felt now, amidst the other feelings that tried to drown her. She wasn't even sure what she was hoping for. That one child to live? For them both to return home soon? Yes to both, her mind whispered. Doubt raged at her that she was a teenager still and would be for years yet. She wasn't in any way ready to take the role of a parent. Her own parents, despite how much her grandma had done for her over the years, and her bratty cousins that she had to babysit occasionally were more than enough of a reason to...to what? Not want a kid? It wasn't as if she had a choice now, was it?

And yet Sam held onto that hope anyway as she took in the rest of the room again before telling Natasha that she was ready to head to Avengers Tower.

She held on, because they didn't have a choice either.


	9. Chapter 8

Several hours later…

Asgard, Castle, Throne Room

Danny's Pov

"Who are you?" If Danny had ever thought that Frigga's voice caused headaches, either he was wrong or he hadn't a clue what a headache actually was. Odin's voice was far, far worse than Frigga's could ever hope to be. The meaning behind them drowned out all other sound within his mind, crashing into it like a tidal wave. The words themselves leaving a mark, a tinge of something that wasn't quite color across his vision and made his ears throb. He understood all too well what Odin Meant by those words.

"My name is Daniel Fenton, you can call me Danny, though, if you want. I'm from Midgard." He only answered half of what the king wanted him to, because the words themselves, the question that had been asked, had not demanded it of him.

"What are you?" Danny barely held back a wince. Really, all he wanted to do right now was curl up in a dark, quiet room and sleep for a few hours.

"I'm not sure. I hadn't had the chance to find out." It wasn't a lie. He knew that he had once been human in both this timeline and the previous one. He knew that he had been half-ghost, and still was, but he didn't know then, nor now, what that meant. Whether or not he was completely human and simply half alive and half dead. Whether or not being half ghost meant that he was half of a different species altogether. If he could reach Clockwork, or befriend Frostbite again and ask him, maybe one of them would have the answer.

"How did you end up in the castle?"

"I'm pretty sure I teleported us both, somehow. I don't know the specifics, nor do I know if I'll be able to replicate it for short-distance to show you." It wasn't that he wanted to be this open, it was that he all but had to if he wanted this migraine to end. Odin probably didn't even know this was happening to him and he didn't know if he could articulate it. Danny wasn't sure if accidental torture was a thing that could happen, but he was pretty sure it was happening to him.

At least Dana wasn't affected. Danny was grateful for that.

The guy looked similar enough to Pariah Dark that he was so, so thankful he wasn't having any kind of flashbacks the second he saw the king. Danny really didn't want that to happen and have to explain that bit of information which, now that he thought on it, was probably irrelevant now.

Frigga wasn't there for the sole reason of having taken a short trip to Earth to see her sons and let them know about Danny and Dana. Why she hadn't just taken them with her, Danny probably wouldn't understand. Or it was just because Odin wanted to talk to him first.

Which was fine. He was fine. He hadn't royally messed anything up.

"What do you know about your, and your sister's, strange magic?" They thought Dana was his sister? Well, better to let them think that than have to talk about the past several months. Wait a minute. Magic?

"I just thought it was a kind of energy and we haven't really been able to figure out everything that we can, you know, do with it. Yet."

Odin let out a heavy sigh. Danny was more focused on catching his breath and soothing his head with a bit of cold and frost that wouldn't melt, clinging to his scalp and the roots of his hair so that it wouldn't be noticeable.

It helped for all of two minutes and sixteen seconds.

Other questions were easier to answer, simple ones like where on Earth he was from, specifically. He was also informed about the dead flowers, which had him scratching his head, and the scent he and Dana gave off when using their powers. Other questions weren't so easy to answer, however.

"Do you remember where you were, before you arrived here?" Even though Odin's voice was gentler in tone now, after making sure that the security of the castle was fine and all that. The effect they had on Danny didn't lessen one bit, however. It was almost sad if it wasn't already painful. If Danny didn't want to admit this kind of weakness to anyone, much less the King of Outer Space or whatever Odin was, he'd have said something by now.

"I would like it very much if I never had to think about that place ever again." Or what happened there. Or the monsters disguised as people. Or the creatures that looked like monsters but only because the GIW had twisted their DNA so much that they hardly resembled the animal they had once been.

Odin was silent for a long moment. Long enough for Danny to wonder if he'd said the wrong thing, before Frigga walked into the room with Danna and someone he didn't recognize.

"They may leave." Was all that the king said as a dismissal.

* * *

Ghost Zone, Clockwork's Lair

Jazz's Pov

"Wait. Hold on. So you guys have two different relationships that are on par with the human concept of having a boyfriend or girlfriend then fiance then spouse? One of them being romantic like how we see it and the other being what we'd think of as platonic? How is it that my… si'gi'su? That my sigisu will be the only one I can have kids with? How does my ghost even recognize this? Better yet, how the hell do ghosts have kids I mean how do you know that the person you, say, have a crush on, is going to be your _destined mate for life_?"

There was more that she wanted to ask, but Jazz figured that she'd asked enough already. She'd come to her ghost father wanting an explanation for how in the world those GIW monsters weren't able to make actual clones of Danny. It seems that answer was a bit longer than she had expected. As well as more confusing.

It seems that her search for an easy answer wouldn't be as short of one as she thought. She'd been here for hours now, learning more about ghost culture and language in between finishing homework until she was done and able to focus on the questions that burned in her mind.

Clockwork looked almost embarrassed when she brought up the topic of how ghosts had children.

Well he should've thought a bit more before he mentioned that little detail in his attempt to teach ghost romantic relationships 101.

"Well. Uh. Two ghosts make a sphere out of their ectoplasm and mix them. If they aren't compatible then the ectoplasm won't mix. If so, they have to maintain the temperature of wherever it was that the sphere was formed and a consistent flow of ectoplasm to it so that the child may grow and be healthy. Much like how a mother must eat to keep her growing child healthy, but with an added purpose of making sure the child grows at all."

The explanation was rushed. Jazz didn't blame him. Even if he'd been through this before, it still wouldn't ever be something easily talked about.

"A ghost will know who they are one of two ways. That one, or the easier way, which is likely to be how you will know who yours is." He took off one of his gloves to reveal markings on the inside of his wrist. Script.

"They may be found anywhere on your body, although the arms are the most common. I do not know for certain where yours would be or if it will be there at all." After a beat of silence his expression turn to one that made Jazz think he had an idea, "Show your back again? I want to check your scar."

Her scar from the portal that looked like forked lightning. Huh. Figures that whatever destiny marks she'd get would be there.

"What does yours say? Is it the sigisu one? Or am I not supposed to know that?" She could imagine her second father's eye roll at that as he looked.

"Good news. Both are there. The way to tell is that one, your sukasi, that's the name for your platonic mate, will be lower on your body or arm than your sigisu's name. It seems that yours uses a modified form of our script to allow for consonants without a vowel, as well." As he said that he backed away and put his glove back on.

He hadn't answered her questions. It was private anyway. Probably.

"Could you tell me what those names are?"

"You're smart, 'Eon. Your learning fast and have been taking this well. It won't take you long to figure it out."

Well, it hadn't taken her long to figure something else out, at least, "That's why Danny, and I, I guess, can't be cloned, is it? Or have children with anyone else but whoever our sigisu's are. All of those children, they were all theirs, weren't they? Danny and Sam's? Of course his ghost would see her as his mate. They're practically soulmates even without the ghost factor. And Tucker, I bet, is his platonic one? I'm right aren't I? Great. Now I won't have to worry about my little brother possibly having relationship drama."

There was silence for a long several minutes as Clockwork sat down on one of the chairs. He was capable of checking the state of the current timeline, he'd said, from anywhere at anytime, but keeping track of offshoot timelines, parallel ones, and ones not connected to this one took the organization that his gear-mirrors provided. That was likely what he was doing now as Jazz thought over what they'd been talking about.

"...I'm blind or something. To romantic stuff. How in the world would I tell them…? You know what, I'm not going to question that. Like I said I am bad at this whole romantic relationship thing. The platonic one, my sukasi? Yeah. I can do that. That's a walk in the park compared to...Ugh! Papa~! What should I do?"

His laughter echoed throughout Time Cathedral.

"Papa, I'm being serious! I probably don't even know these people- It's not that funny! Did you see something funny in the timeline again, is that it? Oh, who am I kidding, you must've known this was going to happen. C'mon, I need help here. Papa…"

* * *

Earth, Amity Park

Kurt Wagner's Pov

Kurt's day had started with waking up an hour before the sun to get on the Blackbird with Rogue, Cyclops and Storm. Wolverine wanted to come to, but Professor X had convinced him to stay and look after Sam, who was in New York now. Sure, she had the entirety of the Avengers around her, but they'd all just received word that Danny and another, a little kid, would be at the tower soon. Apparently they'd been found in Asgard of all places.

He and Rogue would be assisting the Maximoff twins and Neon in taking up watch over Amity Park. Storm would take watch in one of the nearby cities, while Cyclops would be back a few days later to help her out. The rest of the X-men were on watch from their part of New York.

Now that Danny was back on Earth, they needed to be careful. Missing persons reports were being watched now, in case the GIW, as Jazz Fenton had called them, decided to go after anyone else, but Kurt knew they couldn't be everywhere at once. They wouldn't be able to tell who they were even looking for outside of anyone with a lab coat or fancy white suit.

Anyone could have that, and they didn't have to wear those items all the time.

If Kurt wasn't tired he would have sighed in frustration. They were being lead around in circles, looking for a needle in a haystack when there could be dozens of others ready to poke them the minute they got too close.

And now that he and Rogue were in Amity Park?

The teen mutant looked around warily, rubbing at the watch on his wrist that gave him his disguise.

He had a feeling that they got too close, and it was about to bite them all in the ass.

* * *

Unknown location

?'s Pov

"Any results?" One voice snarled impatiently. "This is the fourth one we've tried since we got the portal constructed and operational. If we don't have results to show it'll be us that will be in that portal next."

"No sir. Nothing's working. They've all died either from the amount of electricity or the ecto-radiation, or both. Sir, if we keep this up someone is going to-"

"We move to the command center in three days. I need something by then. Even if it's just narrowing our search. We need these hunters."

"Yes sir. We'll have it done, sir."

"Good. Now get back to work. Someone throw that body down the chute will you?! And grab the next subject from Block B this time!"


	10. Chapter 9

Earth, New York City, Avengers Tower

Dana's Pov

Dana didn't know too much of what was going on, which was partially her own fault because she had been paying more attention to her dad and how he was tense and nearly winced every time that Frigga said something to him. All she really knew of the situation was that they would be going to a place that was closer to what her dad said was home.

It wasn't home, though. Her dad said that her mom was at their home and she wanted to meet her mom, not more strangers.

"Here we are, kiddo." Her dad said after the rainbow lights faded from her eyes and she could see what was around her now.

Woah! They were really high up from the ground. She knew she had been back at Frigga's home but that was different. She had been behind a little wall that kept her from falling off the edge. Here, though, there was nothing to keep her from falling.

But there was also nothing to keep her from seeing everything beyond the floor she stood on and the building it was attached to. The sky was dark and there weren't that many clouds so the lights coming from the many, many buildings shone brighter than she'd ever seen. There were too many buildings, too many lights, to count them all with just the numbers that she knew.

And despite it being night time, the time that her dad said was when people normally went to sleep, there were lots of people awake. Noise rose up from the ground to meet her ears in a way that made her pause. Unfamiliar sounds mixed in with the voices of people whose languages she didn't always know the words of or at least recognise. Some sounded kind of like Spanish, some sounded a bit closer to some Esperanto words she knew. Others had Latin parts to them.

"C'mon Dana, time to head on inside. We can come back out here later if you want." Her dad's voice was soothing against everything else she was hearing. It was a lot for her brain to handle just with super hearing and being far away from it. Dana was glad to take a break from it and followed her dad inside with the guy that they had traveled with that smelled like Frigga.

* * *

Sam's Pov

Sam had learned many things about ghosts from what Jazz had been able to explain about them. First and foremost being that yes, they were beings and creatures of the dead. Yes, people could and did die, becoming ghosts for one reason or another instead of passing on into Eternity. However that didn't mean all ghosts were the spirits of the dead, as they are able to have children on their own. From what Jazz had learned though, that was the only way a non-dead ghost could exist.

Clockwork had likened it to being given a second chance at life, for those who died.

This apparently explained why Jazz's shadow acted weird. Being in a state between fully alive and fully dead, a state between human and ghost, was going to have an affect. Jazz's shadow, the smell she gave off that normally wasn't all that detectable unless she used her powers, her much, much slower resting heart beat, the subtle glow. All of those things she could list off the top of her head, and other things that she couldn't, were side effects of what Jazz was now.

Another thing Sam had learned was about the Zone itself. The Ghost Zone was not a different dimension, but a different planet whose atmosphere was altered to look like the swirling dimly lit skies it does, centuries ago. They could no longer see their sun, their moons, the ring system or the stars and constellations of their sky.

From Jazz's account, Clockwork had looked sad and a little distant as he explained this part of his world. Sam thought Danny would have been sad to, being the astronomy nerd he is.

Or maybe was.

Would he have second memories like Jazz did? Would he remember a different her? What would he think of her now? Would he be so different, from the possible memories and whatever he'd gone through these past few months, that Sam wouldn't even know him? Before he'd went missing he had been acting strange, although Jazz and Tucker had both tried to assure her that could have been for any number of reasons. Such as suddenly finding himself completely human and alive after however long of being half dead.

She really wanted to believe them.

Now she was staying at the Avengers tower, her trip there having been extended. First so that she could help with getting Loki's lips unsown, and again after the news that Danny was alive and would be here soon came to them all.

Everyone since then had been rushing around. Always working on one thing or another. Some people were getting a guest bedroom ready with two beds because oh God, one of them truly was alive. Her daughter, as hard and awkward as that pill still was to swallow.

The Avengers had unanimously agreed that it would be a few days before Danny and Dana, her name was Dana, would be able to go back to Amity Park with her. Sam figured it had been both the health concerns that were still present even with the Asgardian healers and the nutrient rich foods, and the watch on missing persons cases. The GIW had yet to show themselves and the one they had caught was found dead yesterday. Having no other leads to follow and no other crisis or villain popping up out of the woodwork had her on edge.

Sam was beginning to think it had everyone on edge. Even Loki who, admittedly, was probably just wondering when the other shoe was going to drop regarding the Avengers sans Thor. She'd seen Clint Barton, Hawkeye, give him skeptical looks every now and then, and Bruce Banner, the Hulk, determinedly ignored the mischief maker's presence.

Now all there was left to do was wait, which is what she was doing now. Sitting around idly had never been her thing. She and Tucker both had to find some way of occupying their minds or else they'd try to get up and move around and do something instead.

So Sam found herself a book or two detailing different ideas on folkloric and paranormal creatures. This wasn't the first one she'd read and memorized, but now she had more than just passive interest guiding her in pursuit of this knowledge. Jazz, again, had been helpful in the information department. This time though on what she had known in the Other Time. A list of things from her personality to a few of her habits because Jazz was observant even then, to the things she knew.

Tucker, Sam thought as she flicked through the larger of her two books, every so often checking her phone for text message updates, had taken to doing the same. Looking through the things that he'd done and read up about to better help out his best friend in that timeline, and bulldozing his way through things like college level math equations and learning how to code.

Such as the medical and paranormal topics she found herself devouring alongside the both of them teaching themselves more about wilderness survival and just survival in general. It wasn't something that they were experts on, but Tucker could be considered a genius with his codes. It helped that they now had contact with people who were taking a bit of a liking to them enough that, should the two teens need it, would help them out if they asked.

It was during this unusually quiet time spent reading while the other tower residents were either off doing their own things that they did every morning, that the quiet was interrupted by the mad giggling of a little girl.

Oh, and the tackle hug that threw her back into the couch with barely enough time to close her book.

"Dana, sweetheart, she was reading a book. There are better ways to get her attention."

Oh dear Lord, they were both here? Now? From the cool, small body that was now pressing against her side and the the voice she'd just heard, speaking through laughter of his own, they must be. Danny was back. Dana was here.

"But she is here. You said she would be at home, and that home was not here."

"That is what I had thought, yes."

"Sit over here with us." Sam faintly registered that they were having a conversation and that she'd set her book down on the coffee table in front of her.

"Danny?" She noticed that his eyes, bright icy blue that she remembered, snapped to meet hers as she spoke, "Get over here."

"Yes ma'am." He replied, joking, smiling, and sat on her other side, "You're not...you know, overwhelmed?"

Oh she was overwhelmed alright. She still didn't know whether she should be crying in relief because he was back, hugging him, or whether or not she should kiss him silly. Maybe she'd settle with a combination of the three.

"Hey, hey. Shh, I'm here now." She was crying now, wasn't she? They'd picked up on it, surely. Jazz had been like a bloodhound in that sense, picking up people's emotions and being able to tell someone a dozen different things from smell alone.

"I...are you overwhelmed?" She forced out the words despite her throat closing in on itself and her voice sounding ridiculous to her own ears, "You went through who even knows what, and then there's...Dana, yeah, and then there's the, the fifty, fifty-four others. I visited that place, they cleared it out, watching over it, making sure it was safe. I had to know. A-and then you were on a different planet and now you're here. It hasn't even been half a year, Danny. Are you sure you're okay?"

It had been close though. It had been enough. Nearly five months and half the school year was over. He'd missed Christmas, missed her and Tucker's birthdays, missed Thanksgiving and New Years. He'd missed enough and they'd had to go through those holidays without him. No one had done anything for Halloween. Sam had only known after it had come and gone.

"I'm not...I won't lie. I don't know. I'm keeping myself together right now, though." Danny murmured, holding her as she held Dana who by now had crawled onto her lap, hugging her and trying to give her own comfort. Dana only looked, God, Sam couldn't tell. Six years old maybe, if she had to guess. Somewhere around there, physically.

How was she even handling this? How old was she, really?

"Don't you ever. Ever! Scare me like that again. People thought you were dead! You were labeled dead. There was a funeral."

"Eh, well they aren't exactly wr...uh, sorry. Too soon for the dead jokes?" Her glare gave him his answer, "Right. Sorry. I...M...Mom and Dad, are they okay? Are they, did they think I was dead? Do they, still? Did, or uh, does Jazz? Tuck...right, of course he wouldn't."

"Jazz never stopped hoping. Neither did your parents, by the way. Oh yeah, popular thought is that you're a mutant. Superpowered person, basically. Some kind of genetic thing. Your parents, despite that idea being wrong, mind you, are accepting of that. Chances are they'll accept you no matter what you are or are capable of. Said it themselves I think. It was on the news."

" _I'm sorry, Ms. Manson, but is Mr. Fenton not, in fact, a mutant?"_ Jarvis asked, catching them all unaware. Sam had nearly forgotten about the AI. The AI that had just overheard their conversation and could at this moment be telling the rest of the Avengers, or showing them, the part of said conversation that he was now asking about.

Danny and Dana both flinched a little. Sam nearly cursed.

They had some explaining to do, it seems.


	11. Chapter 10

Avengers Tower

Two hours later

Tony's pov

The common room that everyone was located in was near overflowing. Natasha and Clint sat at the bar area only a couple feet away, Sam and Danny sat on a loveseat with Dana spread out across their laps, sleeping like the dead. Danny didn't look too far behind her. Tony himself, Bruce, and Steve sat on one of the couches while Thor and Loki took up the remaining two chairs.

"Danny isn't a mutant, JARVIS, at least, not that we know of. Sure he has these wicked ice powers-"

"-but that's not the only power I have." Danny and Sam, Tony and the other Avengers found, had a tendency to finish each other's sentences. As far as the couple were aware, this little ability extended to their mutual best friend, Tucker, as well.

"Mother and the healers suspected that what you do is seidr, magic," Thor added in at some point, "Is this wrong to?"

Danny shrugged, "I don't know. I never really thought of it as magic, but maybe some of it is?" Loki had a look of intense concentration before replying.

"I do not...I do not know what it is. It acts in ways similar to magic, but there is other behavior, and other properties that I can sense that sets it apart...wait. No I recognize this. I know not what it is, mind you, but I have seen it before." The last few sentences were said with hesitance, almost as an afterthought, "It-It bears resemblance to Hela."

Tony didn't know if he wanted to believe what he was hearing. The teens had told them all right from the beginning that they couldn't share or explain everything. From how Danny was reluctant to say anything at all, and from his own experience with the Ten Rings, Tony felt he could understand one of the reasons why that was. And even Loki, although he could recognize Danny's powers somewhat, couldn't put a word or a name or, hell, even a phrase to describe what they were actually dealing with here.

"I only know what I know because of Jazz, you'd have to ask her if you want anything more, sorry." Sam commented after a few moments of somewhat tense and awkward silence.

"Okay but, how does Jazz know about...whatever Danny is?" Sam shrugged her shoulders at Steve's question.

"She's got some kind of seeing thing. Like, visions of things. She doesn't always share them because it can be hard to tell what's the past and what's the future but…"

"So...she's psychic."

"Wait. When did this happen?" Danny and Clint spoke at the same time.

"Sort of? And it, uh, showed itself shortly after Danny, left. At least, that's what we've got to go on, since Jazz told me something about strange memories, doubled or echoed ones or something. Like, in one memory their parents are there, in another, it's just her and Danny."

"Wait, she has doubled memories to?"

"You have them?" Sam gave Danny this look.

"Uh-huh." Tony let out a cough to break up the exchange. They were sliding off topic.

"While this is all very informative, you still haven't told us what Danny is, if not a mutant. Or who Hela even is."

Danny let out a growl-like groan before answering, "I don't actually know, okay. I have ideas, maybe Jazz will be able to give a definite answer, but all I can really say is that I'm not, well, completely human? Maybe? I could still be a mutant if I have that gene, I guess, but it's not like I'd know my mutant power from whatever other ones I may get unless it's like, completely unrelated. And even then that's like, a coin toss."

He didn't know what he was?

It was those mad scientist bastards wasn't it? It must've had something to do with them.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a nap? You seem ready to pass out." Steve suggested, looking ready to carry the guy to one of the guest bedroom they had set up for him.

"I think I'll be okay for a while longer, but thank you Mr. Rogers."

"Just Steve, son."

"'Kay. Um, Loki? Who's Hela?" Loki and Thor shared a look.

"My daughter-"

" _Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Odinson, but this is urgent._ "

* * *

Danny's pov

Danny wasn't sure if what he heard was actually what was said, or if his tired mind was messing with the words.

"I'm sorry, JARVIS, right? What did you just say?"

" _Mr. Tucker Foley and a Ms. Valerie Grey have gone missing. Ms. Storm has informed me that-_ "

Danny let loose a low, rumbling growl.

"-people matching the description of those scientists-"

"Danny?" He heard Sam ask, barely. Dana was handed over to Natasha so that she could be moved to the guest bedroom to sleep undisturbed. He glanced up and caught the assassin's gaze-

Danger: not threat

Ally, Friend and Family (not related)

Human (Enhanced) use caution

Fate - 2 years (likely, not set) battle wounds (situation unreadable)

-and shook his head at the worsening headache. This was a different beast than what Thor said was Allspeak, a language meant to translate into the listener's native tongue even though his brain was already wired to translate the meaning and intention of foreign words.

Was this worse than the feedback he got from Odin though?

He clung weakly to pieces of Sam's shirt as she held onto him now, hoping that her presence would help him fend off the panic that closed his throat and made his hands shake like leaves.

He avoided looking at her but couldn't help seeing everyone else-

Danger: not threat

Allies, Friends and Family (not related)

Tony - Human (enhanced by arc reactor) use caution

Bruce - Human (Hulk alter ego)

Thor - Aesir (Strength, unknown) use caution anyway

Loki - Unknown (icy scent, magic? maybe) use caution anyway

Clint - Human (eyesight reflexes) use caution

Steve - Same as Natasha

Fates - Intertwined (with each other, with Natasha), 2 years (likely, not set), battle wounds (situation unreadable)

-and then accidentally saw Sam's-

Danger: Danger? What danger? This is my mate, shut up.

Girlfriend-Mate

Human (not fragile but still) every caution known to man if it wasn't obvious, idiot

Fate - Error, Unknown, What in Clockwork's name? Error Oh God what does that mean?

"Danny!"

"Holy shit. He's got telekinesis? Kid's got telekinesis."

He babbled something incoherent, attempting to let them know that he heard them, whoever it was that spoke.

"'M here, 'm 'kay. 'Kinesis is normal." His voice was clearer this time but, as he vaguely realised, he'd curled up into the fetal position and everything not bolted down or a person was floating in the air with a subtle white-green glow surrounding them. He was pressed as far back into his seat as he reasonably could without turning intangible.

He bet that his eyes had gone completely green to. Irises, pupils and all.

He wouldn't tell them what he saw.

He wouldn't leave them to their Fates, either.

"I'll sleep. Find them. Quick. Please." With that said, Danny's power cut itself off, the items falling and crashing either into furniture or the floor. He passed out before his eyes changed back.

* * *

Rogue's pov

"Bi'te'fe nuno'le'xi ru'xu'sha'fe!" Neon, howled, not caring that the heroes with her, or the people around them, couldn't understand what she said. "Thi'ka fe'nu'hi di'gi'da!"

"Neon. Neon, please. We'll find them. Storm and Cyclops are already out there looking." Rogue tried her hand at soothing the enraged ghost teenager. The others had made an attempt, but as soon as things started to float and the ghost's form started flickering in between different states and forms, they were forced to keep their distance.

"Bi'te'fe se'sa'ka'fe! Bi'te'fe se'sa'ka'fe di'gi'da!" Wanda and Pietro were with the Foley and Manson families for the time being, watching over them and comforting them as best they could. As Neon was right outside of the local high school that both teens went to, Rogue was here with her while Kurt was at the Fenton's home.

They were spread out too thin, even now. They had all let down their guard for a moment, became complacent in the thought that they didn't need to watch over these people 24/7. They'd been wrong in that thought, and paid for it. Possibly with two people's lives that were only younger than her by a year or two at most.

And news reporters were watching them now.

Thousands, or maybe even millions of people across the nation probably were, if there was a big network here.

It wasn't fair.

* * *

Danny's pov

Danny woke up a few hours later on a huge bed in a room he didn't recognize. Within a minute he'd taken note of his surroundings. Sam was next to him, still asleep although his still tired brain wasn't up for calculating how long that may have been. The light being let in from the windows was noticeably brighter now, so he knew it had to be at least six in the morning. Steve had been in here at some point, maybe to help get him here. Dana was in the next room over, sleeping peacefully. The sizzling hiss of someone cooking, and the undeniable smell of meat had his stomach complaining that he needed yet more food.

Regaining weight and muscle was going to be a pain in the ass.

Regaining power and control he'd used to fight was going to be even worse.

"- _6:30 in the morning_." Whoops, he'd over extended his hearing again, hadn't he?

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you, JARVIS. May I know who's cooking breakfast?" It couldn't hurt to be polite to the AI that he'd been informed ran the entire tower and most of Tony Stark's other electronics. Heck, the AI practically was the tower. A tower that had to be a modern day fortress because it housed superheroes and people that lived with or worked with and for those heroes.

Now he was thinking about the tower having all of it's potential defenses and weaponry being deployed and woah, he had to ask Tony if that was a thing.

He thought it'd be cool aside from the fact that he really didn't want to make the AI mad now, if it was true.

" _Of course, Mr. Fenton. Mr. Banner is currently making breakfast this morning. Are there any food preferences that you want him to know of?_ "

Danny shrugged, "No toast, but that's about it I think, thank you."

" _You're welcome, Mr. Fenton._ "

He was halfway through his first plate of food when the rest of the Avengers, Sam, and Dana shuffled in, out and around the kitchen to get their own food, followed by the strong scents of coffee and tea. He was contemplating getting a second plate when conversation started up by none other than Tony.

"So. Reindeer games, you actually have a kid." Loki gave the man a look of 'Really? We're still talking about that?' before replying.

"Yes. Four, if you must know."

Danny was struck silent by a wave of memories from the previous timeline, or, well, Dan's timeline, really. He bit back a groan. Why did he have to go on a murderous rampage in that timeline? He could've done literally anything else, but no, he had to go and indirectly cause Ragnarok of all things by freeing both Jormungandr and Fenrir so they could cause more chaos and death, and he was sure that his killing all bu a small percent of the human population had a hand in it to.

Great. Now he'd gone and lost his appetite over something stupid.

"Are you okay Danny?" Sam asked as she got up with Dana to do...something. Maybe watch tv or teach her something or play a game. Shit, he was really out of it.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Sam."

He wasn't, because Tucker and Valerie were going through who knows what. The Avengers were acting like family even if they'd never admit it out loud and that in turn reminded him of Jazz who wasn't here either. He'd seen the Avengers dead, knew when they would be and how, but had currently thought of no way to stop it because he didn't know what they had been fighting or why. Sam's fate showed an error and he hadn't the faintest clue as to why that was either.

He was homesick and worried but there wasn't anything anyone could do about that.

 **(Translations:**

 **Bitefe - those Nunolexi - good for nothing Ruxushafe - killers/murderers Thika - them fenuhi - all digida - damn sesakafe - monsters)**


	12. Chapter 11

Amity Park

Three days later

Jazz's pov

It had been three days. Seventy-two hours since Tucker and Valerie went missing and now they were home. They were all home, including Sam, Danny, and the sort of new but not really addition to her family, Dana. New to her parents, but not to her, or Danny, or even Tucker and Sam with as much as she was able to tell them. Valerie was sticking close to Tucker, had been ever since they were rescued and the pitifully small group of GIW scientists placed under arrest. Jazz couldn't blame her though. The other girl didn't know anything about what the GIW had been trying to do, hadn't known what she had become.

In Valerie's own words, she'd been almost killed, survived, and stuck with Tucker because he was in the same shitty situation as her but actually knew something of what happened. He'd done the best he could to answer whatever questions she had, calmed her down enough to think straight, and let her know that a bunch of superheroes were going to bust them both out of that place soon.

Which they had, just not before damage had been done and scars, gained.

Jazz found the whole situation to be a mess.

Two more half ghosts to add to their miniscule numbers that, even if she included Vlad, didn't exceed over ten. The friend who went missing, and the friend who had taken the loss so hard that, as far as Jazz had been aware, even months later she hadn't quite known what to do with herself other than to put distance between her and people like Danny and Sam. Maybe she'd ended up putting distance between herself and Amity Park as a whole.

Any sane person would have.

Funny how, after months of determinedly not thinking about it, it was now, when everyone was together in the same room, that she dared to go over the events which lead to this timeline's creation.

Events that Danny had zero knowledge of and would only be able to know, things she would finally be able to say and write and communicate to others, once another six or seven months passed them by. They'd only just be able to plan and figure out just what had gone wrong, together, after months in which nigh anything could happen.

For all she was able to see, there was an infinite number of ways that this new timeline could play out from here. All she had to do was be subtle, lay low, and start the process.

Jazz, for now though, had to focus on what was happening now. Valerie and Tucker both needed help with their powers. Valerie most of all needed help in coming to terms with her life decided to take a left turn.

Never mind the little thought that her parents still needed answers; Danny, Val and Tuck all wanted to start learning more about ghosts in general and not just in the context of their powers; and a number of other things that she couldn't put focus on least she go crazy trying to juggle it all.

* * *

Wisconsin

Vlad's pov

Vlad was ashamed of himself. Oh, he'd done a lot these past few years, and more than that in the past few months alone, but it never felt like enough. He'd moved on from Maddie, got himself a councillor or a therapist or whatever those people were called, and wasn't nearly so bitter about Jack. He'd calculated out how much money he'd gained from the companies he now ran which he'd gotten through the use of his ghost powers and pooled that into bettering each one, making the people's lives and paychecks, hopefully, a bit better than they were before. He'd hired investigators to search for Daniel the moment that the teen was reported missing.

He'd done a lot of things that he was no longer proud of.

But, in a conversation he'd had with Jack and Maddie just a week ago over the phone, he knew it wasn't anything he couldn't come back from. Not giving them the details of what he'd done, of course.

The aging half ghost turned to one of his many mirrors, twisting so that he could read the curly script on his face, one on his forehead, and one on his neck. Both, he hid from the public eye on a daily basis.

It wasn't worth it, to try and find these people who likely never met him, never heard of him, or had and just didn't care. It wasn't worth it to find his soulmates only to lose them, or have them reject him outright. It wasn't worth finding them with families and lives of their own because he was in his late forties now and if full ghosts were anything to base himself off of, he wouldn't be dying any time soon.

Better to stick to familial love.

If Daniel and Jasmine would allow it.

They were both listed as the primary people who'd receive, evenly split, everything he owned should he kick the bucket and fade anyway. It had been a compromise with Jack and Madeline. They wanted him to be their children's godfather, he hadn't thought it to be the best idea at the time. Still didn't, if his tendency to be an ass with a superiority complex was even remotely intact after all these years.

Unlike some uncle or godfather figures, he was not looking to corrupt his could-have-been godchildren, thank you very much. Wouldn't get the chance, really, seeing as this Neon character has effectively laid claim to Amity Park as her, their, territory by ghost standards. He'd wouldn't be able to take one step within the invisible walls of Neon's lair without her knowing who he was and what he was: a walking balancing act between being a creature of life and a creature of death, a paradox, impossible, yet existing anyway as if giving Nature the middle finger.

All because of a ghost with a penchant for misery of all things, taking pity on him after the miniature portal accident back in college.

" _So, what do you choose, hm? Stay, and see how long your pitiful life lasts, or Leave, Fade into Blissful Eternity, and never get to know what could have happened had you chosen differently?"_

He still wasn't sure if he regrets choosing to stay.

* * *

Amity Park

Maddie's pov

Madeline Fenton had said that she'd accept her son no matter what he was or what happened to him or what he'd had to do to survive that horrid place and damn it she would stick by that decision. Her son having a child of his own? She'd help him and his girlfriend with parenting and try to make up for her own accidentally shitty parenting in turn. She'd always wanted grandchildren anyway. Her son coming back home with a multitude of scars that he wanted to cover up because he didn't want people staring at him? She was going over the items she'd add to her next shopping list. Quirks and other habits of his, and Dana's, that made her blood boil because how else could they've gotten them if not for those monsters?

If she had to make a list, that is. They were reluctant to stay out of sight of each other for very long even if they tried to hide it. Both were inclined to forego a bed and make nests out of pillows and blankets and the mattress of said bed as it had been relocated to the floor. Preferably in either a corner, a small space that they had a way in and out of, or somewhere else that had a mix of the two. The way that Dana eyed her food sometimes like it was the strangest thing in the world, or how Danny ate like he wouldn't live to see tomorrow yet often only ate whatever was given to him and not a bite more.

They avoided confrontation and making others around them mad at every possible time. If they thought someone would get mad over who even knows what they'd flinch as if expecting to be hit!

Their hurts and scars ran deeper than skin, deeper than even those things she'd first noticed.

God have mercy on those people's souls for she would not.

There was a problem she kept running into, however. Danny wasn't big on talking about what happened and Dana just gave her this confused look when she'd asked if the child wanted to talk about it as if she didn't understand why'd she want to or why Maddie was asking. To both of them she had just said that it may help them, and that if the person that they eventually opened up to wasn't her, she'd be okay with that. Danny, specifically, didn't really know how to react to her being more attentive and affectionate. He generally followed Jazz's lead on that, and Dana in turn copied him.

It hurt her to see her child and grandchild like this, one closed off and the other a mixture of curiosity and confusion. It hurt her to see Tucker and their new friend, Valerie hurting and scarred as much as they were after only a few days, in comparison to the months her son had gone through.

If she ever saw one of those "Guys in White", Maddie had made it clear as day to her son upon his return, they were dead.

For now though, her children and their friends needed to settle, rest, and find some moments of peace. Jack had already sent out an email to Vlad to ask if he could get legal documents and a birth certificate made for Dana. She had formed a plan with Casper High's principal and guidance counselor that would hopefully make sure that Danny didn't have to repeat his Freshman year. The kids were going to have a sleepover weekend to get to know Valerie better, which she accepted after her dad gave his own approval on the condition that she not complain about his popping in every once in awhile to visit her.

If fostering a sense of close, tight-knit friendship between the group helped his daughter through this trauma, Mr. Grey had told her during one of sad visits, more than what a professional could achieve, then he was more than willing to allow it.

* * *

" _Jazz said it may help me to record myself, you know, talking about the things that happened during the five months I've been, uh, gone. Instead of talking to an actual person because that person could always watch this later and I wouldn't have to explain everything more than once, ideally. So, here's something._

 _Whatever food they gave me, I didn't eat it. Or drink it. It's not because it was drugged, because it wasn't. They, uh, found other ways to...wait no, I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway. I gave my food to Dana which I won't ever and have not ever regretted. It obviously came at a cost, though._

 _They set me up in this pit, fighting mutated animals and alchemic chimeras, every few days. It was oh so naturally a kill or be killed situation and I couldn't die because like hell would I leave my daughter to the claws of those beasts._

 _I'm sure that someone has already connected the dots, but for those who haven't yet, I'll just say it now._

 _I ate them. I killed them and ate them right there and then, raw, because I was just so damn hungry but there was no way I could get away with asking for more food and I sure as hell wasn't going to start eating my part of the food we're given when I knew it just wouldn't lead to anything good for either of us._

 _Oh, and bathrooms were nonexistent. Sort of. There was a little room we were taken to that really just had a hole instead of a toilet and that was it. Yeah. Great hygiene guys. I totally didn't get sick twice nor did I ever eject the contents of my stomach from the smell alone. Oh wait, that's right, I did._

 _I-I'm sorry. I can't say anything more right now. I'm done with this one, I guess. There will probably be another one of these later. Maybe."_


	13. Chapter 12

Ghost Zone, Observant Council's Courtroom

Clockwork's pov

The ghost of time let out a heavy mental sigh as he listened,not for the first time, to the Observant council. In the time after Pariah was defeated, they'd been the end all, be all, of the government in Tha'lu'ha'sa, their word for the Ghost Zone. For the most part, Tha'lu'ha'sa was an anarchy where everyone made their own rules for their lairs, but if a thing affected more than three or four of those lairs, or the ghosts who owned them, the matter would be resolved by the Observant Council.

Not that the dead politicians ever really got anything done, mind you, but it brought a sense of order to an otherwise chaotic system while they waited for a new monarch. Many had tried to fashion themselves as such throughout the centuries, as Clockwork suspected would happen with such a gaping hole where power and authority once were, but in order to be officially recognized you must have the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage. In order to cement the position and prove your right to lead, you also had to be accepted by them and pass the trials they placed on you. Which meant you would have to go to Pariah's old Keep, open the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, hope that he doesn't wake up and get both Items of Power from him to start said trials.

No ghost had the daring or foolishness to go through with it so their claims fell flat and their supposed rule ended before it ever really began.

Beside him, before the High Observant, both Nocturn and Vortex were present.

"First you forbid us from having children naturally, if my memory is correct," Nocturn bit out in barely controlled anger, "and now you ban us, ban all ghosts, from having half-ghost children as well? Even if it is something that the human wants? Even if it means saving their life?!"

Nocturn had chosen a more human appearance, Clockwork noted, ever since he'd asked the Ghost of Sleep to save Valerie Grey. The other shape-shifter still bore the nighttime sky in clothing that-

Wait. Was that steampunk?

Great, now he'd have that image in his head for weeks and not be able to do anything about it.

Nocturn must've done that on purpose.

"We still have not caught the ghost who _altered_ Vladimir Masters." The head observant narrowed the single eye that accounted for pretty much all of his face with the exception being his ears. Not that they weren't anything but holes in the sides of what Clockwork had always assumed to be his head. The Ghost of Time vaguely wondered how they ate or drank.

"And if you do, then what?" The ram-horned Ancient spat back, "It's not like it was illegal two decades ago. We didn't even know it could be done!"

Electricity was now arching around the eye of the cyclops as it began to glow. Nocturn's hands, he saw, had flickers of fire jumping from one finger to the next before vanishing.

Thankfully, Vortex stepped in before either of them could resort to violence. The Ghost of the Sky, also in a more human form since saving Tucker Foley, still kept a thick layer of clouds orbiting him so that no one would be able to see anything aside from his head. Not that his crackling, wheezing voice didn't give others an idea as to why that decision had been made. The clouds, now, had darkened with hints of contained electricity of his own, faint thunder following a mere few seconds after each miniature lightning bolt lit the clouds from within.

The Ghost of the Sky was not happy and would make his displeasure known, "Do you believe these half-blooded children to be abhorrent, High Observant? They readily and eagerly seek to learn our culture, our language. There is no reason to-"

"The ban is so that no more half-blooded children may be created," The dead politician paused to let that sink in, "Not so that the already created ones are unable to learn, and not that they be cast out. However, we have yet to determine if their presence will bring about another Pariah, or if they will instead benefit us."

Clockwork wasn't so sure that _us_ was being meant in the same context as he hoped. Still, there was a small shred of gratitude that the Observant Council this time didn't have any idea about Dark Dan. If they did, they'd likely be singing a much different tune.

"You still haven't answered what will happen if you even find out who it was that changed Vladimir. That might even have an easy solution, you know. Just ask him who saved him. If he tells you then there would be no need for a ban." From what his Sight allowed him to see, Clockwork saw that the chance of them figuring it out was an even split. The chances of them lifting the ban afterward were virtually nonexistent.

"They won't lift it, Nocturn." The Ghost of Sleep whirled around to face him with a reply but the voice of one of the other observants sitting in the auditorium-like courtroom cut through all three of them like a knife.

"Be grateful that you are still allowed to see them because if it weren't for the fact that you changed them in the face of a life or death situation, you would not be."

All three Ancients switched their focus to the Council, snarls being held back even though they placed no such restrictions on their expressions, or their retorts.

"Why in all of Tha'lu'ha'sa-"

"Is it because we are powerful and you seek to control us?"

"If you get within so much as a mile of my children, I will-"

"ENOUGH! OUR DECISION IS FINAL!" The Head Observant roared, halting all protests mid-speech, "This Council Session is over. You three are dismissed."

* * *

New York, Avengers Tower

Loki's pov

The Norse deity of Mischief, not for the first time that day, found his gaze being drawn to the seemingly innocent box that now lied on his bed. The box itself was of little interest. It was plain, black, and had not indicator of what was within it save for a small symbol on the side that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

Daniel Fenton, the boy who had hardly spoken during his days spent here, had personally handed him this before he left. Even after days had passed he still had not opened it. What could the child have thought to give him when the two hardly knew each other? Had Daniel given a similar box to each of the Avengers?

How he'd stayed his growing curiosity, Loki didn't know, but with a sigh he figured the only way to get answers was to open the infernal thing and be done with it.

What was inside wasn't anything that he'd been expecting.

Four tiny figurines, a small diamond shaped gem, and what appeared to the Liesmith to be a mix of both ice and technology that he must have created with Stark at some point during his stay. Beneath them was a folded piece of paper, but he didn't pay it any mind as it was the figurines that captured his attention first.

Each one was done with incredible detail and accurate to what his children looked like. Sleipnir was shown rearing, his hooves somehow being the same rainbow colors of the bifrost and his eyes a vivid green that he shared with his siblings. Fenrir was crouched in a way that was more playful than a preparation to attack. Jormungandr was coiled up in a way that showed him resting, while Hela was shown as a child with a crown too big for her around her arms and shoulders instead of her head. Hela's child form was likely to show her as the youngest, Loki assumed. Each one couldn't have been more perfect.

His hands were shaking but Loki still managed to set each one down gently on the nightstand before taking a moment to collect himself. It was only when he thought himself thoroughly calmed, that he took out the device, the gem, and the folded paper.

Looking to the paper first to see if it held direction on how to operate the piece of mixed technology, he began to read what he was once again surprised to discover was was a letter.

 _To the Avengers,_

 _Just so you're aware, Loki, I'm including you among them, so don't go saying that this doesn't include you. It does, I can assure you that much._

 _With that out of the way, I want to thank you all. For housing me in few days I was here, for caring enough to even want to search for me, and for protecting my kulasaraka (coo-lah-rah-sah-kah). I know you'll have no clue what that last word means, or future ones if I mention them, so I'll do my best with translations, as I am still learning this language to. It is a word for multiple close-knit families including your own extended family. Sam said the closest word in English would be tribe._

 _Anyway, I'm getting off-topic, I'm sorry. Tony should know how to get this little piece of tech working, but if he's not available, it should hook up to a tv like any dvd player. You place the gem in the indention and a screen will pop up with options for individual scenes or just playing the whole thing through from the first scene to last._

 _I recommend choosing scenes as they're all organized and labeled so you should have a pretty clear idea of what you're getting yourself into, but if you're thinking of binge watching then each scene is labeled with a "time", even if it is only in relation to other scenes like "after this" or "between these two scenes"._

 _The group of scenes labeled "A Future Made of Nightmares" is bleak. It's dark, gory, and does NOT have a happy ending. Make sure you have several boxes of tissues and something to shoot and or throw things at. Please, please for the sake of anyone who dares watch it, do not take this warning lightly. Do not show this to anyone who you don't trust (Loki doesn't count, sorry not sorry). I relived this so that you may be prepared for a Worst Case Scenario, despite my promise to make sure nothing like that ever, ever happens._

 _Echoed memories suck._

 _If you watch everything and decide that no one else should get their hands on it, you have my permission to by any means necessary destroy the thing. First method I could think of? Throw it into a volcano. Or maybe the sun, if you think it warrants that level of drama._

\- Danny

 _P.S. I'd like to count you all, and mathafenuhigi (mother of all) Frigga, as apart of my kulasaraka… or kulasara (Clan, I guess? Extended family and the families of those people) , but only if you want to._

Well, might as well go inform the rest of the Avengers and hope that he doesn't get shot.


	14. Chapter 13

Saturday, February 11th, Early Morning

Fenton Household

Maddie's pov

Within the past twenty-four hours, Maddie had to process and accept a lot of things. Danny, Jazz, and their friend's nightmares being one of them. She'd comforted them all as best she could with them all sleeping in a tangle of limbs. She had come to accept that the ghosts she thought she knew were so drastically different from the ones that Neon has been steadily informing her of that she may as well just throw out the theories that she had formed since college altogether.

Well, maybe not all of them.

Neon sat a few feet away from her, on the ceiling, upside down, drinking a cup of coffee as if this was an normal, everyday occurrence. For her it might as well be, though perhaps weekly would be more accurate. Both the cup and the liquid inside was wrapped in a cherry red, bubbly aura that showed the ghost teen's use of telekinesis. So far, not a drop had been spilled.

There were some aspects of ghost culture that the heroine hadn't learned yet or found hard to explain. Maddie almost wished that Jack wasn't installing a ghost shield for Casper High School so that he could be here to make sense of what she could not.

"What exactly is the purpose of having a platonic mate when you already have a romantic one?" Their conversation, like it had many times, had dissolved more into a game of twenty questions rather than a normal discussion.

She couldn't truly see the ghost teen. The most anyone ever got was a hazy blur that looked vaguely human, mist-like hair, and twin ruby red eyes. Neon had explained it as an illusion, a glamour that was meant to hide what she looked like or change it whenever she wanted. That, and the use of a little shape-shifting, accomplished her goal of keeping her identity a secret. The number one reason? She apparently had living family in the city.

"I don't know, Mrs. Fenton. Why would you want someone who wanted to share the rest of their life, or second life, with you; who loved you and cared for you in a way that has nothing to do with being able to have children with you or being related to you?" Maddie was too deep in thought to answer, "Being a ghost, you'd live for who knows how many centuries. Maybe even thousands of years. I know I'd like someone like that with me. Helping each other with raising the kids with our romantic mates and helping each other through issues that we may not feel comfortable with talking to our romantic about, or family."

Moments passed in a comfortable silence where they chose to watch the lightening sky of morning as the city woke up.

Maddie knew by now how to tell if she was approaching a sensitive topic. The ghost's reaction to the first, last, and only time that the paranormal scientist had asked Neon about when and how she died proved to be a good motivator to avoid them if Neon herself didn't bring it up first. Poor girl had only been able to choke out through red tinted tears that it hadn't been that long ago, less than a year at the time, and that she'd been sixteen.

That had been two months ago, if her memory was correct.

"Mrs. Fenton?"

"Please, Neon. I thought I told you to call me Maddie."

"Maddie. My younger brother is back."

Maddie hummed, sipping her own coffee, "You mentioned that he'd be here soon. I hadn't thought it'd be now." She remembered her own sister who by choice lived as far from the rest of their family as she could get, "How is he?"

She glanced up when there wasn't an immediate response. Neon's glamour was gone and the cup was shaking. Avoiding spilling it even though in that moment Maddie couldn't have cared less if it did, Neon sat it on the coffee table and righted herself as she drifted down to the couch below her.

The white glow covering everything made all of her colors brighter. Golden-orange hair that looked like fire, skin likely paler than it actually was, grey and blue clothes and no shoes or socks to speak of. She looked as young as she seemed. Young enough to be her own child.

"I'm sorry-"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Maddie. It's just, he's not okay. Not right now. He's been hurt and it reminds me so much of your son and how much he's been through recently that I...I want them both to be okay but I, I don't know how to help."

Maddie hadn't thought she'd ever get to a point where she'd be comfortable with hugging a ghost, but seeing Neon now, the girl definitely looked like she needed it. As she moved to do just that, Maddie knew that she herself had needed one to.

Late Morning / Early Afternoon

Danny's pov

"I don't know if I can do this, Sam." He mumbled as the camera blinked in front of him, showing a reflection of himself and his girlfriend, "Are you sure you want to be here for this one?"

Sam, in her own seat behind him and braiding his hair, hummed, "Do you want to get your hair cut? It's past your shoulder blades."

They were the only ones in the house right now. Tucker and Valerie had gone out to get food and check on the X-Men heroes since no one in the group had seen the two in a few days. Jazz went out with Dana to the park about an hour ago and had apparently met up with Wanda and Pietro on the way there. Danny was pretty sure his mom left to help out his dad with installing some ghost device that would have to be avoided. He wasn't sure yet how much he trusted that truce that his parents had with his sister's alter ego yet.

Danny glanced at her through the camera before replying, "Do you think I could pull it off? Do you like it like that?" He was stalling but in fairness she was the one who had given him the opportunity.

"Yes. Jazz and I could help you if you need it. Valerie to, if she wants, that is." She wasn't pushing him to start, as much as they both knew he needed this. If he wasn't going to see a counselor, things like this would have to fill that role.

He may as well stop stalling, though, if he was going to travel down memory lane anyway. Taking a breath to steady himself, he dove back into the memories of "the five months of hell" and as he recounted them in his mind, began to speak.

 _It started not even two days after he became a half-ghost. He felt something brush against his mind. It was familiar, light and gentle and so, so small. The orb, as that was all his mind's eye could see clearly, was alight in the colors of a sunset's reflection on the waters of an ocean. The patterns on the orb matched that of the colors, waves rippling across the surface. Danny for several minutes hadn't known what, or who this was, much less what to do about it._

 _Those minutes were tense as he wondered what that something would do, but it stayed at the edges of his mind and the longer it stayed there, the more he paid attention, well, it didn't take long for him to realize what this was._

 _This was the mind of a child. Not even that. A baby. A little boy._

 _Danny didn't know whether he wanted to tear his way out of the little cell he'd been thrown into, or throw up what was left in his stomach at the thought of the GIW getting their hands on a baby._

 _He leaned his mind toward the infant one, inviting the little one further into his own and making a space for him that was shielded from most of Danny's thoughts and emotions. The mind thought more in colors, sensations, and emotions rather than actual thoughts with words, so he made an effort to communicate with him in that way in turn._

 _In the downtime that he had between having a needle in his arm, drawing blood, and doing oh so fun things like parkour just to get through a heated wire laser maze, Danny spent his time within his mindscape. By the next day, a half dozen other minds had joined the little boy. Two of them had sky blue and pale gold colors, one with patterns that reminded him of feathers and the other of leaves. Another was a whirlwind of different blues with only the occasional smokey black to break it up, and the last three were sparkling whites, golden browns, and greens like snow covered trees._

 _He ended up giving them all names. Both so that he could keep track of them all, and so they actually had names where as he knew the GIW wouldn't bother to give them ones. Leo Helios was the sunset one, though now his light was looking dimmer than it had half a day earlier._

 _He kept an eye on Leo as he expanded the area in his mind for them all, all the while trying to figure out why they all felt familiar and close to him. The little sunset's mind grew, all of them did, as he thought to them and sung to them and watched as hazy forms flickered around the orbs as time went by, growing by the hour. Leo, like he had imagined, had orange-red hair and the dark blue eyes of the ocean._

 _Yet the little one's light was still growing dimmer. They all were._

 _As three more minds joined them, 40 hours after Leo had first made contact with Danny's mind, the boy's mind faded completely for a second before returning._

 _It had been during one of the tests that they were running on Danny that this happened and he nearly stopped what he was doing, consequences be damned, to run and find Leo's body and make sure that his little sun didn't just almost die. That was also when he overheard a couple of the deranged scientists talking to one another about clones._

 _Danny, making the connection, wanted to scream._

 _They weren't clones. They couldn't be. Leo was more than enough to prove that. If he were a clone than his little lion would have a form that looked like Danny did when he was a child. They'd all be male, when he knew that his trio of trees, Ami, Mai, and Mia, were girls. They were_ his _, they were_ family _, and not only was Leo fading, but Sarah and Sophia, the little gold and blue minds, were beginning to follow their brother._

 _Danny didn't know what to do other than to take their pain as his own. He wasn't able to see them, didn't even know where they were. Once back in his cell, he didn't bother with the tray of mush that they called food or the bottles of water and dove into his mind again._

 _Leo was fading fast. The flickering form vanishing and reappearing in time with the light of his mind. Maybe the more accurate word would be soul, but now was not the time to figure that out or how this mindscape connection even worked. Leo barely moved, having settled in one spot, and it was all Danny could do to make sure any pain Leo was feeling remained with him and not his little lion._

 _He focused on comfort and love. He focused on calming Leo's siblings who were growing distressed or confused._

 _The part of Danny's mind that he'd changed for the children had been a field of grass and flowers that the little ones could run around in. Now, Danny resolved to create something so that he'd never forget any of them. He had to work fast, though. Envisioning what he wanted to create, a song filled the air as the fabric of the mindscape rippled. This had to be strong enough to withstand anything his mind or others could throw at it._

 _Multitasking between making this structure and keeping an eye on the minds around him, Danny felt a part of his ghost powers rise up to help him. The result was a massive weeping cherry tree with his ghost power creating smaller trees and forming an actual japanese garden around it. Innocent and peaceful it may appear, but Danny knew that the instant anyone intruded upon this place who was not welcome would have to walk through hell to get to it._

 _He sunk to his knees, creating now an orb, a replica of Leo's mind and soul, and poured what few precious memories he had of his little lion into it. He set the orb on a branch that already had a piece curled up in such a way to be able to hold it. There was the sensation of being punched in the gut; of a tense, frayed string being cut, and he knew without having to look that Leo was gone._

 _Every few days, for a month, a new mind or three would appear and another few would fade. Sarah and Sophia had been next to go, about a day apart. Then the triplets. His whirlwind had held out for a total of five days before fading. As time went on he resolved to make new spheres for the tree only when they were about to fade, as updating each one while going through everything else the GIW made him do was taxing and hurt far more when they left._

 _Then, in came Danielle to his cell and God only knew why they'd actually allow him to see her, much less put her in the same cell as him. Her mind, her soul, was like a little blue jay. Grey, black, blue and white, patterned like feathers and fluttering about with a curiosity that reminded him of Sophia and Sarah. She stayed close to him both in the mindscape and out of it as much as possible. Her mind grew slower than the others, but then again she hadn't changed from the five or six year old appearance physically since she was put with him._

 _He gave her the food he was meant to eat in the hope that she'd stay strong enough to survive. He started to carve the names of the children who had already passed, as well as a number of other things including the name of his hometown. If for no other reason than to have a physical reminder of their names, and as some sort of message to the GIW that they may not care, but he did. He cared for each and every one of them._

 _Danielle, or Dana, as he called her now, didn't fade like the others. He didn't know why that was, or why she was the only one, but he could only suspect it had something to do with not being forced to grow anymore like her siblings. It could also have something to do with how he'd used his ectoplasm to heal her whenever she got sick, something he found he could do out of desperation._

 _He was so, so scared that he'd lose her to, as weeks went by and more of his other children left this world. Every time that he was pulled away from his cell for anything he'd be constantly checking on all of them, hoping that maybe another would be strong enough to survive whatever it was that the GIW did to them to make them grow so fast. Too fast. Stretched too much too far. Hoping that Dana wouldn't start to fade in the time he was gone._

 _Two months. 61 days, and twenty-one lives. Three months, 32 gone. Danny was starting to form a plan now. A way out of here for him and Dana. He didn't know where his other kids were being kept. If he ever did find out, he'd find a way to rescue them to._

 _Four months, 43 orbs and by now the cherry tree looked as if it had christmas ornaments strewn about it on all sides. Dana's mind had developed enough now that she couldn't stay within his. The garden, however, stayed as a link between them both, somehow._

 _He worked tirelessly on his affinity for ice and cold through his weakened state, through being sick himself and through pain, knowing that the only way he'd be able to escape was if he froze as much of the facility around his cell as he could in seconds._

 _Five months. Fifty-four orbs now hung from the tree in the mindscape, and in the span of only a minute, they were free._

 _It was only him and Dana in the garden now._

 _Sore, tired, battered, bloody and having found them both in a different kind of garden with sunlight above them, Danny couldn't even summon enough energy to cry in relief. All he could do was hold Dana close and send her all the love he could as he drifted to sleep._

It took him a few minutes to find the energy to leave the tree and the garden behind, once he was done recounting that fountain of information. No longer feeling fingers in his hair, and instead felt arms around his shoulders, he realized with a stuttering breath that Sam was crying.

"I want to see the tree."

Danny blinked to try and fight back tears of his own, "I guess we could go ask Clockwork about it. I want to ask him about the whole mind connection anyway." He knew she was stubborn enough to not back down from this, so decided not to argue on that, "You have to promise me though that if it's too dangerous to just jump into my head, you'll agree to us finding some other way."

"Promise."


	15. Chapter 14

February 11th, Late Afternoon

Tucker's pov

* * *

It took Tucker and Valerie an hour to find Rogue and Nightcrawler.

Really, it wasn't that hard. All they had to do was stumble upon the nearest crime scene, which, in itself, was a bit odd considering what the crime was. There was a young woman and she was found dead by Rogue and Nightcrawler who proceeded to call the police. The odd part was that her cause of death was that she had somehow found herself through a wall with no visible hole, head and arms on one side, legs on the other and torso in between.

He was amazed at how Valerie had handled seeing the sight, but it may have to do with her new threshold of weird, gross, and creepy. The police themselves weren't quite sure what to do, other than identifying who the woman had been and informing her family. They had searched high and low for traces of how this could have happened, or who could have done it, but other than "it was probably a ghost", they had come up empty. None of her neighbors had reported seeing or hearing anything strange, and her roommate had been out getting them take out, leaving about fifteen minutes before it happened.

Tucker was sure that the only thing that kept him and the two x-men from rejecting the contents of their stomachs was the fact that their own limits for horror and weirdness had shot up as well, somehow, miraculously, overnight. Once the four of them felt it safe to leave after tiptoeing around the scene and trying to get a better idea of what happened and failing at it, they made their way to Valerie's place as it was closer than his, Danny, or Sam's.

And lo and behold, who else was there with Mr. Grey but Nocturn. Or, at least, Tucker thought that was Nocturn. The Ghost of Sleep from what Danny remembered of the previous timeline looked quite a bit more inhuman than this. Oh sure there was the red eyes that looked similar to Clockwork's and sure there were the iconic ram horns and nighttime sky theme in...his? Her? Their clothes, but the ghost looked far more human than Tucker had been expecting.

He wasn't too sure what he'd been expecting, really.

The ram-horned ghost looked about a relaxed as one could get, drinking coffee in the living room which Tucker might have guessed was supposed to be ironic but he was still trying to process the possible reasons that Nocturn could have to be here of all places.

"Valerie!" Mr. Grey greeted them with a smile, "And you are Tucker, Rogue, and… Nightcrawler? Ah, good. I was right. Come in, come in. Can't leave you standing there. Mr. Nocturn, you wouldn't mind waiting a bit while I make more coffee for you, right?"

As Nocturn went to reply, Valerie burst out into a giggling fit and the ghost was left with asking, "Why is she laughing?"

Tucker, rolling with the situation, shrugged his shoulders and explained, "Oh that? She's just running some comedian's voice through her head right about now, as a coping mechanism, you know, when things reach the limit of how much bullcrap, insanity, or stupidity one can handle? Turns pretty much what everyone around her says into something that's funny."

"Oh. May I ask…?" By now they were all sitting somewhere and getting comfortable while was still in the kitchen and Valerie's giggling subsided into the occasional shaking that came with held in laughter.

"Yeah, it's not like we're trying to hide it. Mine involves giving everyone nicknames, eating nothing but meat when I'm feeling especially upset, and or playing Doomed for hours on end. Jazz's method involves making herself laugh somehow or watching something adorable. Sam's has something to do with gardening or exercising. Danny, if I remember right, uses puns. The more cringe worthy the better. If Jazz remember's right, then there's also a dose of jokes about being half dead so that he doesn't think about the fact that he's half fucking dead, sorry Mr. Grey. And witty one-liners that are only witty half the time. Oh, and trying to make other people laugh with things he finds on the internet."

"Wait, I thought it was self-deprecating humor." Tucker, at his friend-maybe-girlfriend-if-only-he'd-ask's comment, couldn't help but to let out a small sigh. He'd thought that to until recently.

Danny sure had changed a lot.

"Well there was that but he's working on it. Mainly because said humor includes his half-ghostliness and that would reflect on us and Dana now and not just him. The rest of his special brand of humor is like this uneven pie chart that consists of things found through Youtube or Google search, actual real life comedians, and then whatever is left over is what comes out of his own head."

"Oh. That makes sense." Nocturn, Mr. Grey, and the two X-men who were still present watched this piece of the conversation like a tennis match, though it was Rogue who was the one to break the silence.

"Uh-"

"It's fine, we talked it out because there's no way we could, you know, see a counselor or a therapist or whoever about this. What happened to Danny when he tried to pretty much settled that."

"What happened?" Now that Mr. Grey was back, coffees set out on the table in between them, he was bound to want to be in on what was going on. Tucker didn't hold anything against him as it was Nocturn who had gone and showed up out of nowhere in his living room. Information may not be able to make what he guessed to be a growing headache go away, but it might help prevent future ones.

"Well in a different timeline it was because this ghost that fed on misery was his school counselor for a while, yeah, tried to off Jazz so the whole school would be miserable-" By now the man had probably heard enough that letting him in on the whole timelines and half-ghost shenanigans would be a better idea than keeping it all a secret from him. And, Tucker mused while sipping a bit of his own coffee, it wouldn't be fair to ask Valerie at this point to keep something this big a secret from her father.

"WHAT?"

"Yep. This time though it was because the lady who was working with him thought he was lying and wanted to put him on medication for some mental illness. I mean, there's these people called superheroes, supervillains, and mutants, and aliens, things like what happened to Danny aren't that crazy by comparison."

"Wait. Who was the ghost that-"

"Someone named Penelope Spectra." Nocturn made a face, "Okay what is it with that look?"

"Well…"

What was it? Tucker wasn't sure he wanted to know. After Jazz had told him and Sam of her memories (of the many close calls that the three of them had, vaguely of just how many times Danny could have, should have died if it weren't for him already being half dead), Tucker had resigned to his mind recreating such things in his mind. Things that he knew weren't likely to be real. Not because they hadn't happened in this Time, but because he could all too easily be remembering wrong. His mind twisting the tales into horrors.

Surely, surely this couldn't be as bad as that.

"C'mon. It can't be that bad. Can it?"

"That would depend."

"On?" Valerie asked this time, taking over for Tucker as he was too far gone in his own thoughts to respond.

On that ghost bitch being worse in this timeline?

Would her victims look like little more than husks?

"How you would take being related to her."

"Wait. Me? Or Tucker?"

"Both of you. And Daniel and Jasmine being related to her as well."

Tucker forced himself not to move even though he wanted to snarl and growl. He was related to Penelope Spectra?! How? How were they all, minus Sam, related to that soulless shadow that tried to kill Jazz?

He wasn't sure if he could stand to see her, even with Jazz's words of "this Time is different, and so is everyone and everything in it" ringing in his head. Even without being the one who Spectra had tormented. Even without the proper memory.

He really needed to get a hold of his temper. It wasn't fair for him to be this mad, right?

"Hold on. Are we all, you know, related then?"

"No, no. It's...one of my other children and one of Vortex's and Undergrowth's children had Spectra. You and Tucker are not related to each other. Although in human terms I was told that you would be Daniel and Jasmine's step-sister."

That was a small relief.

"Well this day just keeps getting better and better. Gotta let Danny know before he finds out himself and freaks out." Was Tucker's only comment as he brought out his phone and not think about what he had just learned or how it would affect his su'ka'si.

* * *

Evening

Tony's pov

As the Avengers called a movie night and Pepper, Jane, and Darcy sat down with them and refused to move once they knew what they were watching, everyone got comfortable as Tony set up the device and the ladies chatted quietly. They'd moved aside the chairs and couches for this one, shifting the furniture to make a semicircle around them as they found places amongst beanbags, blankets, large pillows that the billionaire seemed to pull out of nowhere, and a good few boxes of tissues should they ever need it, as Danny had warned. Of course, Tony had also put up some of the portable targets and a Captain America durable punching bag in case they needed that as well.

He didn't know what he'd do for Bruce if the Hulk decided to make an appearance. There was a Green Floor that he had installed into the tower, the only issue being getting there before the Hulk showed up. Jane and Thor reassured him, not that they needed to, that the most that he would cause is a thunderstorm outside. Loki's only promise was to get the Avengers in on any plan he had to torment Danny's tormentors while holding a small crystalline figure as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

As a thin screen appeared hovering over the piece of hybrid technology, Tony set the memories to play in "Chronological Order", the words having "or as much of an order as one can get when time shenanigans is involved" in smaller text below.

" _I would get to time travel? I thought you said it wasn't a good idea, considering how much I've messed up the timeline."_

 _The scene they saw as dimly lit. The ticking of a hundred clocks and the sounds of a thousand gears turning all at once was like background music, a lullaby even, if one found the sounds pleasant._

" _That was because you wanted to save your friends and family, the Infi-Map being stolen by Vladimir, and...other events. I only advised against it because, A, I cannot be there to fix every mess that you make, and B, you didn't know at the time what had been "messed up" in the timeline. I was not going to risk an accident that results in something as drastic as you having never been born."_

The dialogue was between Danny, as they could just barely see him thanks to the subtle glow of sky-blue eyes and his reflection on the glass that was fixed within each gear they could see. The other person in the room they couldn't see just yet.

" _Wait. So. You don't blame me? For any of it?"_

" _I never did, Daniel. You don't have to make this decision now."_

A blue skinned form drifted into view, red eyes burning in the low light. Loki and Thor, Tony noticed, had visibly tensed, though he didn't know the reason for it.

Their reaction set him on edge anyway.

 _The kid held a ribbon in his hands, at the end that spilled out and swung back and forth there was a medallion attacked. It appeared gold with a stylized blue CW etched into either side of the metal. A blue that wasn't unlike Danny's eyes, or that other being's skin._

" _But the observants are breathing down your neck! Again! They already hate me just because I exist. I don't want them getting angry at you to."_

" _Daniel-"_

It was only now that the two norse deities relaxed. Tony wasn't sure what they had been waiting for, or looking for, but whatever it had been, they didn't seem to think it was worth worrying over. The inventor couldn't be sure if anyone else had picked up on it, being as dark as it was and with everyone else either under a pile of blankets or out of his field of view.

" _I know. I know. I shouldn't feel obligated to do this for you but seriously. The benefits outweigh the risk. I get help with school with you and Jazz tutoring me so that I actually pass. This way I feel as if I'm helping you and doing something for you in return."_

" _If at any point you want to stop and back out…"_

" _But then the observants-"_

" _Let me worry about them."_

No one spoke a word. Not Tony even though he was itching to know the backstory to this, keeping his mind occupied by taking notes on what he could see and hear. Not Clint who he half expected to have said something by now. Not any of the ladies, who from what he could see were staring intently at the screen.

" _This is the only way they'd let me "have a position of power", Clockwork. They refuse to acknowledge the Pariah incident and half the Zone hates me along with them anyway so, maybe that's a good thing, but they twisted this entire thing so that I can't just refuse!"_

Tony double-checked what he'd jotted down so far.

"Clockwork = CW, initials, time-travel. What is the Pariah Incident? What is the Zone? Why do these "Observants" hate Danny for existing and why are Clockwork's hands tied as Danny is implying?

" _What did they say to you?" Clockwork was met with silence. "Daniel. What did they say?"_

" _I mean. I'd love to be your apprentice. I want to be your apprentice-" At the ghost's unwavering stare, Danny relented. "They brought up Dan and how it would fall on your shoulders if I ever, uh, "turn dark"."_

Yet another thing to add to the ever-growing list, Tony mused, adding that these observants had also, potentially threatened the kid with "turning dark" and someone named Dan. Ugh. So many questions.

" _Again?" Clockwork's voice had shifted to be more of a low growl, giving away how angry he was despite this, or maybe because, this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened._

" _Well, it's a good thing they didn't find out about Danielle but I don't really blame them, okay? Even I would be scared of me. Hell, I am scared of me. I can't stand the thought of- It makes me- I still have nightmares."_

" _Daniel. He's not getting out. Ever. You don't- you don't have to be afraid. You won't ever be him."_

Oh.

" _That's just it. I'm afraid that I won't be. I'm afraid that I'd be worse. Even if I don't, it still doesn't erase my having memories of everything he...I, did. He… I was a narcissistic, realm ending, psychopath! I can't just shove that aside or pretend it never happened. I can't forget it no matter how much I want to because if I do then history could repeat itself. My family is worried but they don't remember anything and I've only ever been able to ask them to not call me Dan. My friends are similar but they think that it's bottled up stress from being around my parents and while they're right that's still a whole other can of worms-."_

" _That wasn't you, though. Dan is not you."_

" _Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure that he was me if I have his memories and his timeline is dead. That was one of the first things you taught me about temporal mechanics, Clockwork. I'm pretty sure that's how these things go."_

Oh shit.

" _...Let's put the decision of becoming my apprentice or not on hold for another day."_

" _But-"_

" _We have all the time in the world, Daniel. What you're going to do instead is sit with me in the Den, eat something, and relax. Got it?"_

" _Make sure that Danielle is with me the next time you spring this on me and then yes, we have a deal."_


	16. Chapter 15

Manson Household

Dana's POV

A Few Days Later, Early Afternoon

Dana was staying at her mom's house for the day while her mom's parents were out on some important trip again, spending time with her great grandma when not delightfully poking her head into just about every room she found. Bathrooms filled with all kinds of different smells that Mima, as she had dubbed her great grandma, had taken the time to identify for her. There was also her mom's room which she spent a good hour just sitting there soaking everything in that she could sense. Ever since arriving in Amity Park, she was with at least one member of her family at all times. If they weren't within eyesight, they they were within earshot or at the very least within range of her sense of smell so she could track them down. It had helped her up 'till this point in not only getting used to other people when they were out shopping or somewhere else like the park, but also with her learning English, Latin, and Ghost.

Of course she had hit a roadblock as soon as she tried to learn more than just the few words and phrases of Spanish and Esperanto that she knew. It was harder than she had remembered it being, even Latin was easier. Her aunt Jazz had, in a moment of curiosity, sought out one of the ghosts that now lived in Amity Park to ask about it. Apparently it was a thing all ghosts experienced. Human languages were two or three times harder to learn than Thaluthashe. Humans likewise found it to be the same when trying to learn the ghost's language. Latin and other dead human languages were a sort of middle ground between them with Latin being the most popular and thus considered the second official language for ghosts.

Half-ghosts were similar in that learning living human languages and learning Thaluthashe were going to be equally hard, and that the only ones they might find to be truly easy to comprehend would be the human languages that people considered to be dead and gone. The main reason why Dana herself was learning English and Ghost at the pace that she was, was likely due to it being the two languages that were spoken most often around her.

Dana didn't mind too much, though. Her dad had said as much that it was fine if she didn't learn every single language he knew. She figured if he said that then she could just learn to speak more words when she wanted to.

"Dana. Want to make some cookies?" Cookies were like the magic word to her ears, bringing her out of her thoughts as she alternated between running and gliding through the air toward her Mima. Her aunt had made some really good cookies once before, and ever since then the young half-ghost couldn't get enough of the sweet.

"Yes, Mima!"

While waiting for the cookies to finish baking, and after eating a few pieces of cookie dough, Dana and her great grandma settled in the family room to watch the local news. Provided, of course if it wasn't "all tragedy or drama" as Mima had said to her. The television had turned on just in time for them to see none other than her dad in a battle against another ghost.

* * *

Somewhere in the Middle of Amity Park

Lance Thunder's POV

"Oh for the love- I'm a weatherman not a ghost attack reporter! We're live?" Lance Thunder sighed before continuing, "As you can see behind me-" The blond reporter had to duck and cover, along with his cameraman, to avoid Phantom as he was thrown into a wall, "Er… around me, another ghost hero has arrived on the scene. This one however…"

Mr. Thunder trailed off as Phantom got up and the cameraman swerved around to catch a glimpse of him. The image was fuzzy, as they've realized by now that ghosts don't show up well in video or photos. They became blurry to the point that using any facial recognition to find out who they were when alive was nigh pointless. The glowing didn't exactly help with that.

Phantom, as the ghost called himself, had gotten into this fight, with a ghost that called it, or himself, Skulker, and it hadn't been going well for the new hero. He had tried talking it out, as Neon often did, but it quickly dissolved into blows. Neon wasn't anywhere to be seen and Lance was starting to worry. This new hero fought well, that could clearly be seen, however it was as if he was holding back, wanting to disarm or reason with this "Skulker" rather than fight him, and that was beginning to wear him down with every attack that struck him and every chance he didn't take.

"I will have your pelt, halfling!" The robot ghost growled as he fired a missile which the white-haired ghost froze before grabbing it out of the air with some kind of green aura telekinesis, setting it down with care on top of an apartment roof nearby. It was while he was focused on that, that a red ectoplasmic ray hit him in the back.

As the fight progressed and Lance continued his ghost attack report instead of being a weatherman, he noted one thing about Phantom that he chose not to comment about. The way that Phantom fought was very different from the times in which Neon had to fight with a trespassing ill-intending ghost. Sure they both held back, that, Lance figured anyone with working eyes could see. Yet while Neon fought with grace and was wholly defensive, Phantom's style of fighting was, dare he say it, animalistic in nature. It was a mix of calculation and unpredictability punctuated by the phrase "everything including the kitchen sink".

Skulker, the self-proclaimed best hunter in the Ghost Zone, would know how to fight against that, giving him the upper hand and setting the reporter's mind alight with worry. Where was Neon? Where were the mutant heroes or the duo from the Avengers team? Were they out of sight, getting people to safety, or were they-

His thoughts were cut off by a shattering sound from the frozen missile, having been torn apart by Phantom's kinesis into a sword and shield to use while at the same time neutralizing the missile that it used to be for good. That thought was put to rest just as quickly when the seemingly white haired ghost manipulated the leftover ice and what he guessed was the water vapor in the air into a pair of...were those arms?

He attached them to his sides, a bit below his actual arms and fought with them as if he'd done so a dozen times before. For all Lance knew, maybe he had. One arm held the ice sword, another held the shield, while the third and fourth fired rays and bursts of ectoplasm at the robotic ghost. The sword was broken only minutes after it had been formed by a well timed blast of red ectoplasm and the shield was sacrificed not long after in order to redirect an attack that would've otherwise hit a fleeing civilian below them, shattering and evaporating into mist so that not even that had the chance of harming anyone.

Phantom had a second pair of arms made out of ice, now but who knew how long that would last. He had a ghost tail like his sister often was seen with as well, and yet his form didn't shift or "glitch out" as often as hers was seen to. Neon had said once to Tiffany Snow that it was her shape-shifting power acting up as her powers often did in response to her emotions, although completing said shift was harder -sometimes impossible, to do the less she knew about what it was she was doing, hence the glitching. It was her body's way of preventing her from messing up in a way she couldn't fix. Phantom likely used his ice to get around that.

Lance knew, everyone in Amity Park knew by now, that getting within two or even three blocks of a ghost fight was asking for some injury or another by way of a stray attack or flying debris, even though sometimes there was no fight, they still knew to get out of the way on the off chance that some ghost or another got mad. Still, as his job now demanded, he and his cameraman were as close as they dared to get. Perhaps, if he were lucky, he could catch Phantom afterward and get a short interview. Provided that the new hero wasn't too injured or tired of course, he had some measure of decency after all.

While on that subject though, he did have to use caution. Ever since that woman was found dead, stuck in the wall as she was, the citizens had begun seeing things they had dismissed before. Things that, when they put their collective minds together, had only been happening since Neon showed up. Doorways moved, for example. Not physically of course, but their destination did and it was only for a set amount of time before that destination changed. As someone put together, if you weren't careful, you'd end up like that young woman did.

No one lingered in open doorways anymore.

The second thing that most students caught onto was how in certain places of libraries, time seemed to slow down. You could, according to them, read an entire book in an hour in those spots that would have otherwise taken you the entire day or longer. Students, especially those in medical programs, found those places to be the best places to study or catch up on sleep.

There were still other things that the citizens here were debating about and theorizing on. Things such as ghosts only sticking around with Neon's permission. Things such as citizens, and others who called this place home, knowing their way around and how to get somewhere without a GPS even if the place is new or they just moved here. Things such as the right people being made aware of when there was a pothole in the road that needed to be fixed, or when someone had faulty piping in their home, among a whole list of other things. That one didn't have concrete evidence however so most just chalked it up to intuition or luck. A few people even thought that Neon was somehow aware of these things and that she was the one doing it.

Some people had it gotten into their heads that these ghosts were like the fae, or, heck, Lance even met a guy who held them at such as level of respect that the reporter was almost sure was worship.

Phantom pulled him and his cameraman out of the way of a bright red ectoray, the motion jerking his microphone and the camera out of their grip. They were caught a moment later in a bright green glow that saved the devices from falling to the concrete, following the ghost and his two passengers as they escaped Skulkers line of sight.

In the back alley between a couple of rows of connected shops and restaurants Phantom stopped and set them and their stuff down. Lance was able to get a good look now at what this new hero, Neon's brother, looked like.

Long pointed ears like mythical elves were typically portrayed; a calculating pair of eyes that were green where Neon's was red yet no less otherworldly and definitely not human; a glow about him that made his hair and clothes and tail all look white. His skin looked a light shade of tan but he couldn't tell if it was natural or not. He couldn't tell if any of this was his natural appearance or what was modified.

"Lurumatho le lethali?" Phantom asked while drifting above their heads in a circle, dipping down closer on occasion with an expression of worry on his face as though checking them for injuries. While Lance didn't understand a word of what the benevolent ghost had asked, he could in this case make an educated guess.

"We'll be fine, Phantom. Thank you for getting us out of there when you did." The ghost took on a faint green to his natural white glow that, if he dared to assume, looked to be the ghost equivalent of a blush. Was he embarrassed?

"Nathiga luruma. Setasha birale ko-"

The ghost turned the ice arms into mist, and reformed them as large feathered wings. They covered his actual arms and the stunningly detailed feathers gleamed in the afternoon sun, sharp pointed tips almost touching the sides of the alley.

A red ectoplasmic blast hit the back of the alley just inches above his cameraman's head. Phantom hissed and brought a shield up around them, the pupils of his eyes, a darker green than his irises, narrowed like a cat's to the point where they are almost lost in the glow as his eyes and aura shone bright with anger, all traces of green in said aura lost to brilliant white.

"Setasha luruma, Skulker, thika shiha, moka ruxu!"

"A halfling abomination like you? Make me fade? Don't make me laugh, child." Phantom let out a loud, low, rumbling growl that filled the alleyway and could likely be heard far beyond it. He flew in front of them, the camera and microphone capturing all of what was going on before them even if Lance himself could hardly believe what he was seeing.

And then, in a blur of speed and a rush of wind, Phantom caught the other ghost off guard by giving a strong flap of his recently formed ice wings, the feathers from them launching forward to be embedded into and slice off one of the robot ghost's arms. The battle between them had begun anew.

* * *

Avengers Tower

Jarvis or Loki pov

After they watched every memory, including the one which had them see the creation of Dark Dan, most of the assembled group were left speechless. Loki, perhaps, more so the the others as he held the figurine of Hela with an iron grip. Daniel had, once upon a time, set Ragnarok into motion instead of himself as was prophesied. Daniel had become every hero's worst nightmare, and though the timeline was now, as he stated in the first memory that they watched, dead, he still likely had to live with the memories.

And while he had become a nightmare, it was not before living through the second worst thing that any hero could go through, Loki mused.

"How is this kid still sane?" Tony asked with what could be perceived to be protective anger. Steve and the two assassins nodded their heads along with the question, agreeing with it as much as they were agreeing with the emotion rolling off of the billionaire in waves.

"Now I see what mother meant when she had said to me that the boy was a warrior. Not only is it from his scars from those mortals, but from times such as those we have watched before then. I… I am sad to think of what made him change things so, when turning away from becoming that monster was not enough."

The television was back to normal, though Jarvis had muted it so that the noise from the channel it was on wouldn't interrupt them. This was broken however when the AI spoke up himself.

"Sorry to interrupt, Sir, but there is something I think you should see." He turned the channel to the local news network in Amity Park which currently showed two ghosts battling each other at the entrance to an alleyway, "I am getting in touch with Wanda and Pietro to find out where they are and what they are up to as there has been no mention of them being involved."

"Wait. Hold up. Who are these people?" Clint asked as he leaned forward in his seat. Jane, Darcy, and Pepper who had been silent till now voiced their own curiosity with him.

"They are ghosts. The one with wings is Neon's younger brother, Phantom while the robotic ghost has been calling himself Skulker. Neither Neon nor the twins have been seen anywhere near the fight."

"Yeah. That is weird." Loki thought it even weirder that Phantom wielded ice and a power the mortals call telekinesis, as well as his shadow sometimes acting up in the same way that Daniel's had. He decided not to voice it however as there were more pressing issues. Though he did not often join the Avengers in their heroics and did not consider himself a hero in any sense of the word, he did occasionally go out himself to give some of their more persistent enemies nightmares, so as to lessen the frequency of strength of the next few battles. Such skill had helped him these past few days as they were all occupied and could not afford to have their attention divided in battle.

If two of their number were in danger elsewhere, or found a lead on those mortal monsters in white…

"Captain…?" Wanda's voice cut through the whispers and plots already forming among them.

"What is it Scarlet?"

"There's someone from the GIW. Pietro confirmed that he's alone. He didn't try to fight us. He… he says he surrenders."

"Make sure he doesn't leave. Black Widow and Hawkeye will be there soon to pick you guys up."


	17. Chapter 16

Avengers Tower

Surrendered GIW's POV

His name is Devin. Surname, Linden. Although, if he pulled this off and managed to free himself and his family from the GIW, he'd definitely be changing his name somehow.

He'd used up all of his allowed vacation and sick days to do this. He'd gathered all the information of the GIW, Project Styx, and everything else he thought would be useful. Copied, of course. He couldn't afford to take risks and just straight up stealing the original files, digital and printed, was a sure fire way of getting himself killed. Along with many others. Sadly he was pretty much forced into having all of his eggs in one basket, as it were, by having everything shoved into a suitcase he emptied out a week and a half ago when this plan was nothing more than a persistent thought.

Now he was awaiting his fate, handed over everything to Black Widow. She was the one guarding him, after all, while the other three heroes either were piloting the jet or talking to the rest of their team in New York. At least, that's who he guessed they were talking to. He didn't even know the language that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were speaking in, only that whoever it was on the other end could understand or translate it well enough.

He hadn't been interrogated yet, he hadn't seen Black Widow open the suitcase, and there was no way he was going to do or say anything right now without approval. The last thing he wanted was to be dead before he could blink. He'd seen footage of the Battle of New York. He knew she had to be capable of some crazy feats to go toe to toe with aliens and keep up with the other heroes on the team, provided of course she wasn't somehow enhanced like the rest of them seemed to be because there was no way Hawkeye's reaction time and accuracy was within unaltered human limits.

Devin found it hard to stay completely still however, so he kept his movements small and noticeable; fidgeting hands that were tied behind him because of course he wasn't trusted by these heroes and shifting his weight or legs when the position he was sitting in grew too uncomfortable.

The former GIW agent didn't know how long it was until they landed on what he guessed to be private property in upstate New York. He didn't know how long the car ride -it was more of a limousine than it was a car, really- took until they finally reached the Avengers Tower and he'd been set up in something that looked like a cross between a prison cell and an interrogation room. The prison cell part was the low platform bolted into the wall that was covered in a couple of thick blankets and a pillow, the interrogation room part was the heavy metal door, the fact that the light wasn't terribly bright, and the table with a couple of chairs.

The sobering, sour thought that this was more than Daniel Fenton ever got struck his heart like lightning. Oh how his wife would rage at him if she knew what he'd been a part of. Never mind that he'd only been tasked with bringing the boy -and later the teen's daughter, he held no illusions of what those bastards were up to, cloning his ass- food and cleaning the tiny cell they'd been forced into. It didn't matter that he had never said an unkind word nor struck the boy, he'd done enough besides.

Non-lethal poison was still poison, even if it had been that or death. Sedatives -if you could call the blood blossom mixture that- would likely still be held in court as drugging the child. Magic he wasn't sure of as far as the law was concerned but at least in that he could weave a few small healing spells that could be passed off as the child's enhanced healing factor. Of course that had changed some when Daniel had stopped eating the food given to him in favor of giving the bulk of it to his daughter, only taking small bites or sips of water as a taste tester. Good for her, Devin knew, but not so for him.

He only caught onto this after the first few days when other agents passing him by in the hallways talked and gossiped about the boy -called him a weapon or a subject or a thing- fighting in the Arena and had taken to eating his kills. After being sick the first time -Devin knew because he also had to clean that area up anyway, what with the lack of plumbing- the Mage had struggled to figure out a way to keep the teen from becoming sick yet again despite the drop in nutrients and high risk of disease -raw mutant animal meat was still raw meat after all. It plagued him for far more nights than he cared to count and had worried his wife to no end.

He was the caretaker, the handler, the whatever other name the GIW gave that position. He should have done something, anything, to get the child out of there sooner or at the least let him know that there was someone among the idiots that had a heart. Quark damn them all.

His Focus leaned more towards potions and the culinary side of things. His magic worked as he was handling foodstuffs and drinks -or, you know, poison and drugs-, not by movement or vibrations or however magic was determined by the community here in New York.

He'd found his solution in the Arena room itself. Every chance away from the facility and it's prying eyes that he got, he poured over tomes dedicated to healing spells and how possible it was to cast magic outside of one's Focus. It was a rare thing and difficult to do as you would, for example's sake, be trying to redirect a river down a new path. Even if you were to dig the path out yourself it would be an arduous process with results ranging from limited success -a new stream branching off the river- to downright failure -that pathway overflowing, the body being overloaded, and spontaneous combustion being the least of your worries. Knowing the risks, and knowing what might happen to Daniel if he failed -healing factor or not he could get sick again and he could still die- Devin tried for a Momentum Focus.

Hands brushed against metal whenever he passed the Arena and Daniel's cell for good measure. Fingers traced out words and symbols and everything else under the sun that he could think of to help. The teen still got sick for a second time, but after that there was noticeable improvement. With the boy's daughter however, he couldn't tell. The child was always hidden whenever he caught a glimpse of the inside when other agents dragged Daniel out for one thing or another. He'd succeeded though. Daniel survived and later escaped.

He felt proud of the kid, proud of himself for whatever small amount of defiance he'd managed before now, and yet felt almost sick to his stomach whenever that feeling arose because it was always accompanied by the thought that he did not deserve to feel pride in himself. Not when the good, in his mind, was overshadowed by the bad.

"You said your name was Devin, right?" The door to the room had opened without his notice and it made the almost middle aged man jump a little in surprise. There in the seat at one end of the table was Captain America. Quark damn it all.

"Yes. Devin Linden, sir." Keep it simple, keep it short, keep the stuttering to a bare minimum. It'll be alright, Devin. This is only the man who you grew up idolizing. No need to panic.

He almost wished it had been Black Widow who was sitting there instead. Almost. He wasn't sure if he liked the thought of peeing his pants in fear over making a fool of himself by tripping over his own words.

"And you...surrendered? Did you represent the entire GIW, by doing that?" Devin shook his head.

"More like I found a way out of hell and took it, sir. As far as I know, it's just me."

"And the suitcase?"

"Information. Locations, floor plans, anything I could safely copy over without raising suspicion." The Captain gave him a skeptical look, "I wanted out, not to find myself and my family dead, sir."

"Family?"

"I have a wife and a son that should be born in just a few months." And oh did that thought still sting like mad, "Sir…" Devin nearly collapsed in the other seat, "I was Daniel Fenton's caretaker. My primary task was giving him food and keeping...his area, relatively clean." He stated with a snort, "Not like they gave me the most effective cleaning products to work with or even an air freshener."

"Why did you want out?" He wasn't stuttering, but maybe he wasn't making the best impression? At least he wasn't sounding like a robot. That might've been worse.

Another snort and a twitch of the lips, "Aside from wanting my wife and child away from those monsters? I was ordered to do things that I damn well sure did not sign up for. Oh sure I thought I knew what I was getting into. Read over a contract, thought I was doing something to help humanity at the time. Then I was reassigned to the facility they had Daniel in and, well...I figured things out far too late."

Far too late to realize that they were not trying to fight off demons -wasn't much of a stretch to think they existed even now- or mythical creatures gone rogue. None of the other GIW he'd seen were mages, even, but he just assumed that was because of America's lack in the number of magical communities it had. And just because one wasn't a mage didn't automatically mean that they hadn't had an encounter with the supernatural.

Devin did think it fair that after Salem they'd be wary of settling in the eastern coast of the U.S., even after all these years. He knew a few people who wouldn't dare go to parts of Germany or France and parts of other countries in europe for similar reasons.

"What did they have you do?"

Adopting his best annoying voice, Devin answered, "Poison the failed experiment, they said. Make sure the subject gets this sedative, they said." He tugged at his hair while giving voice to his pent up anger and frustration, "I did my research and made sure the poison was non-lethal and in the smallest amount I could get away with. Because, you know, it was do that or die. The sedative I couldn't do much about other than not give a lot of it but damn it. It shouldn't be call a sedative if it practically burns the kid from the inside out while partially numbing him."

He answered more questions, subtly weaved a few minor spells with a twitch of his fingers to give him a boost of energy and know what time it was outside. He still couldn't do much in terms of scale with this new Focus, but it was better than doing nothing at all.

No, he hadn't been able to see the other not-clones. If he had he'd have tried to help them to and get into an argument with someone just so he had the excuse to punch one of the agents working there in the eye.

No, he wasn't aware of the details of what else they'd done to Daniel. He saw the boy wet and shaking once, and having little burning lines up and down his arms, legs, and back a week later. Seeing the boy's daughter had been a rarity.

Yes, he saw the child as a person. Yes, he cared for both children and for the two that had been kidnapped after Daniel had escaped. Of course he couldn't tell them exactly what he thought. Mage or not, beliefs or not, childhood hero sitting right there in front of him or not. Phantom had his secrets to keep for good reason and they weren't his to share.


End file.
